David Crotty is recipient of the 2015 Hopkinson Memorial Literature
Award, given annually for the best article or series published in The United
States Specialist during the past yea r. The award, which includes a plaque
and honorarium , is for his ” Compute r Vended Postage Barcodes on Your
Mail.” The article appeared in the April, 2015 issue.
Crotty’s article meets all the established criteria for the Hopkinson Award
– original research ; a meaningful subject for United States specialists; a clear
and comprehensive presentation ; and thorough, comprehensive references to
prior publications on the subject – which assure its enduring value. Besides
those aspects it has the added bonus of novelty.
By exploring a built- in security feature embedded in a new postage
stamp technology that the Postal Service itself cannot yet fully exploit, Crotty
has broadened our app roach to studying stamps beyond the routine philatelic
sequence of preliminary designs, essays, proofs, production techno logy, issued
stamps, varieties , and later modifications. Going forward we will need to
add contemporaneous aspects that anticipate future developments for their
promise to be fully realized.
The Walter W. Hopkinson Memorial Award was established in 1953 in
honor of Walter W. Hopkinson, by his wife, Mrs. Constance B. Hopkinson.
The award honors Hopkinson’s interest in philatelic scholarship and the
dissemination of research and knowledge through the Society ‘s publications.
Hopkinson was a pl ate number specialist as well as a vigorous supporter and
long-time member of the Bureau Issues Association, as the Society was then
known. The first award was given in 1954, and it has been presented annually
thereafter. The award consists of an engraved plaque with the Society’s sea l,
and an honorarium.
The selection committee was comprised , as usual , o f the three most
recent awardees: Ken Lawrence (acting as chair), Richard Nazar and James
Robinson.
A list of previous winners of the award is posted on the Society’s website: