In 2020 an awards committee was tasked with reviewing and suggesting changes for the society award structure. The committee recommended three awards which were approved in 2021. In 2022 an additional award was added to recognize new authors. Each award and its description are shown below.
A. Earl Weatherly Award for Postal History Research
Purpose:
An award of recognition will be provided for distinguished research to authors or creators of print, electronic or digital media of North Carolina postal history. Membership in the North Carolina Postal History Society (NCPHS) is not required, nor is U.S. citizenship.
Name of the Award:
The award shall be called the A. Earl Weatherly Award for North Carolina Postal History Research, after A. Earl Weatherly (1895-1981) the father of North Carolina Postal History, hereafter referred to as the Weatherly Award.
Award Process:
Nominations for the Weatherly Award must be submitted under the signature of a member of the North Carolina Postal History Society (NCPHS), along with appropriate justifications to be considered. A committee selected by the President will review all nominations and make recommendations to the Board of Directors for approval at least two months before the next annual meeting of the NCPHS.
The President of the NCPHS shall appoint a standing committee to receive and review nominations for the award. The committee will consist of at least three members, each of which will continue to serve until a successor is appointed. Annually, the committee will review all written nominations received and select the most qualified individual or individuals. At the discretion of the committee, more than one nominee may be approved in a single year. Previously submitted nominations also may be considered again at the discretion of the chairman of the committee. No award will be made if, in the opinion of the committee, there are no applications which qualify. The Board will provide their choice for the award to the President as soon as possible after receiving the input from the committee. This will allow sufficient time to make special arrangements to present the award to the recipient, normally at the annual meeting of the NCPHS.
Style of Award:
The Weatherly Award shall consist of a permanent plaque retained by the NCPHS inscribed with the names of the recipients. An appropriate presentation piece selected by the award committee shall be given to each new recipient.
North Carolina Postal History Society Exhibit Award
Purpose:
To provide recognition for philatelic exhibits of North Carolina material and to encourage further study and display of North Carolina collections. This award will be given to qualifying exhibits entered into competition at the host show of the annual meeting of the North Carolina Postal History Society (NCPHS).
Eligibility:
To be eligible for this award an exhibit must:
1. Have a dominant North Carolina theme as determined by the jury chairman.
2. Have from 1 to 10 frames of material.
3. May be entered into any class of exhibits as determined by the guidelines of the American Philatelic Society Committee of Accreditation of National Exhibitions and Judges.
4. Have won a silver or higher award previously in another philatelic exhibition or in the current competition.
5. Not have previously won this award in the past three years.
Judges:
The regular judges for the host show of the annual meeting of the NCPHS will be the judges for this award provided that at least one judge is qualified in the area of North Carolina Postal History. In the absence of a qualified judge, the NCPHS may provide an advisor to the judges.
North Carolina Postal History Society Literature Award
Purpose:
To provide recognition for writing articles about North Carolina and to encourage further study and writing about North Carolina philatelic and postal history information. This award will be given each year at the annual meeting of the society to the author of the best article published in the last completed Volume Number (four issues) of the North Carolina Postal Historian.
Process:
Before the annual meeting, the Editor/s of the North Carolina Postal Historian will submit articles, that they think may be considered by the Directors. Each Director will select the article he/she thinks merits the award and return their selection to the Editor/s. The selection of an article is not limited to just those recommended by the Editor/s. Other articles may be considered if a Director desires. If more than one article is selected by a Director, the order of preference should be indicated. If the Directors consider that none of the articles are suitable that evaluation should made to the Editor/s. The Editor/s will tally the input from the Directors and notify the President of the choice of the Directors in a timely manner before the meeting.
Eligibility:
Any author is eligible to receive the award, whether a member of the society or not, except the editors of the journal. An author who receives the award will not be eligible again within a two-year period.
Richard F. Winter New Author Award
Purpose:
To recognize an article of merit published in the North Carolina Postal Historian during the last completed Volume Number (four issues) by a new author publishing an article therein for the first time.
Process:
Before the annual meeting, the Editor/s of the North Carolina Postal Historian will submit articles by new authors they consider to have merit to the Directors. Each Director will select the author whose article, in his/her opinion, has the greatest merit and return their selection/s to the Editor/s. The selection of an author is not limited those recommended by the Editor/s. If a Director selects more than one author, the order of preference should be indicated. If any Director consider that none of the recommended authors should be considered for the award, he/she should so indicate. The Editor/s will tally the input from the Directors and notify the President of the choice of the Directors in a timely manner before the annual general meeting. The winner of the award shall be recognized at the next annual general meeting of the Society membership.
Eligibility:
Any new author, except Editor/s, whether a Society member or not, is eligible to receive the award.