Since 2003 there has been a World Maxicard Competition to judge the best Maxicard created the preceding year.  This has been wildly successful with the number of participating countries doubling in the three years it has been held.  We would like to see the same enthusiasm in Australia with a wholly Australian competition.

Participants in this competition may submit a scan of their card to the NAPE website through Hans Karman which can handle anything up to 10mb - if larger, use Pando.

It must be scanned in full colour <jpg, resolution 72dpi, in actual size, plus a descriptive text in a Word document added as a caption.  If unable to scan, then you can send a colour photocopy to "Maxicard Competition", P.O Box 829, South Melbourne BC, Vic, 3205.

Any Australian resident may participate and/or any overseas member of NAPE.

The card must use any Australian or Territory stamp issued from the end of August 2007 to the end of August 2008.

The three elements are:

• The stamp - must be an undamaged and postally valid.

• The picture postcard must NOT be an exact reproduction of the stamp and must be commercially available BEFORE the issue of the stamp.  The size must be rectangular and a size that can fit two to the page (choose a postcard with a light colour that will show up the postmark and prepare shiny surfaces so they will hold the postmark).

• The Postmark must be legible, close to the issue date as possible and have a strong relevance to the stamp (a FDI postmark is only good if it directly relates to the stamp - if available, a pictorial postmark is better than a CDS.  If the relationship is not obvious then a short annotation should explain).

Good cards may be found at dealers, fairs and club auctions.  A good reference for suitable postmarks may be found in "Pictormarks", a book found in many club libraries.

All entries must be submitted before September 2008, ready to be judged by the November NAPE or/and the NAPE website with the voting form.  Readers send in their choice within 4 weeks so that the winners may be announced in the February 2009 issue.  Then we can continue creating more Maxicards for the 2008-2009 year.

To learn more about Maximaphily visit the FIP Commission for Maximaphily website.