From: stamps@optonline.net   
      
   American First Day Cover Society Holds Annual Cachet Contest   
   The Year's Best FDC Designs To Be Chosen In 16 Categories   
      
   Entries are now being accepted for the American First Day Cover   
   Society's annual cachet contest. The best FDC designs from 2008 will   
   be chosen in 16 categories.   
      
   The deadline for entries is April 15. Those entering covers must be   
   members of the AFDCS. (Youth cachetmakers need only be related to an   
   AFDCS member.)   
      
   The entry fee for adults is $5 if the cover is donated to the Society,   
   or $10 if the cachetmaker wants the FDC returned. A complete set of   
   rules can be found in the Jan. 15 issue of First Days, the official   
   AFDCS journal.   
      
   A cachet is the artwork on a first day cover envelope that complements   
   the new stamp. These designs can be as simple as a few words of text   
   or as complicated as an oil painting or mosaic. Typically, the media   
   used in the entries to an AFDCS cachetmakers contest range from   
   colored pencils and markers to acrylic paints, woodblock prints and   
   movable parts.   
      
   The categories include hand-painted with no mass production of any   
   kind; hand-colored; computer-produced; one-color; event (not   
   first-day) covers; Rookie of the Year and two age groups for young   
   cachetmakers. There is also the top award, which cites what the three   
   judges feel is the best cachet submitted in the entire contest,   
   regardless of the media used.   
      
   Last year's winner, Chris Calle of Conn. entered a No. 10 Horses   
   envelope with a picture of an Indian chief and his horse. It also won   
   the Hand-Painted/Mechanically-Reproduced and Computer or Copier   
   Art/Two Colors Or More categories.   
      
   As winner of the top award, Calle may enter the contest again, but his   
   2008 cachets are not eligible for the top award.   
      
   The American First Day Cover Society is the largest not-for-profit   
   organization of FDC collectors in the world, and has members as far   
   away as Australia. It publishes its award-winning journal First Days   
   eight times a year.   
      
   For more information about the AFDCS and the contest, including a set   
   of rules, contact the AFDCS, P.O. Box 16277, Tucson, Arizona   
   85732-6277 or e-mail AFDCS@aol.com.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)