Canberra Stampshow 2000

18-20 March, 2000

	The story of the origins of the French Challenge back in 1995 is hidden deep in the recesses of the memories of the collective Challenge entrants, as well as those in whose circles Ed Druce moved. The public version was that it was to further Australian and New Zealand philatelists' knowledge of France, its culture, and assistance to developing countries. What else could we say, when we had arranged for the French Ambassador to open the exhibition!
	This photo is a setup. Ed Druce needed help for the photo for the above interview with the Canberra Times. He picked up his mate Hubert Goron (note: there is only one "r" in Goron), who hastily grabbed some philatelic material for the photo. They set themselves up in Ed's house. Have a look at one of the covers, and you will see that no such overprints exist for New Caledonia, Hubert's entry for the French Challenge. So from which country are these overprints? And from which country (countries) are the other covers?
	To spice up the opening of the exhibition, a troupe of dancers from New Caledonia was invited to perform. As the heat at the Stampshow was decidedly tropical (the British dealers were melting!), this was highly appropriate.
	What this report doesn't say is that many of the French Challengers were disappointed with their results. This was mostly blamed on the importation of two Internationally qualified judges from France and the USA, and the harsh judging of the exhibits according to International standards when it was only a National competition. Some competitors have said that they will never exhibit in Canberra again! But a highlight of the exhibition was the French Challenge dinner, which entrants, judges, dealers and other interested parties (namely me!) attended on the Saturday night. Surprisingly, the judges were not guillotined, and everyone left with some red, white and blue lollies, French perfume sachets and some with more lasting, and often humorous, "French Challenge awards".

Awards Night

19 March, 2000

The shocking French Challenge results can be seen here. Those exhibits shown at Canpex 2000 in Christchurch in October received a 14-22 mark improvement. This can variously be attributed (in my opinion) to improved presentation, heavy spending at the British dealers' tables at the Canberra exhibition and the generosity of the judges at Canpex, who said that they went into the exhibition with the expectation that everyone would get at least a Bronze medal for their efforts.	The other National classes were less disadvantaged, with Best of Show going to a Postal History exhibit, "A Postal History of Tasmania, 1824-1900" by John Cress from the USA. Polar Philately, an experimental National class, was graced with some superb exhibits, two of which were awarded Gold medals. The State level exhibits received good marks, and there were several exceptional entries in the experimental Postcard class.	John Vassallo, a local first-time exhibitor, did very well to receive a Large Silver medal with his "Australian Decimal First Day Covers" National class exhibit. First Day Covers is an experimental National class in Australia.
The now-defunct "Australasian Stamps" magazine published a long article on Canberra Stampshow 2000, including this photo, in their April issue.	Each entrant (except one?) received a certificate showing the medal level gained for the relevant National or State level class.	Someone pictured here was so pleased to be receiving her first medal that she actually glowed!
Monday, a public holiday in Canberra (aptly named Canberra Day), was a time of showing off and walking on air. Besides, all the housekeeping had already been spent at the British dealers' tables, so what more was there to do?	"Try a National next time" is apparently what judges write on novice exhibitors' critiques, to encourage them to go through all that hard slog again..... (Boy, did they suck me in!)	Take a look at these two frames, and see how sparse (and awful) the covers are! There was a lot to do to bring this 2-frame State level exhibit up to a 3-frame National level exhibit for Canpex 2000 in six months' time. But that is another story!