News: BTA One-Frame Competition results 2026
30/10/2026 @ 9:25am
The sun shone through windows of the Norfolk Pavilion at the Ardingly Showgrounds for the South of England Stamp Show. It lit up the gems in the dealers’ stocks of stamps and illuminated the exhibits and displays of the BTA’s annual competitions. A steady stream of people came to view these and to chat with the BTA members. Peter Wood’s Road to Irish Independence was the featured multi-frame display this year, and it attracted much discussion at the frames. The competitions, like last year, attracted mainly virtual entries from four continents. The trophies for the class winners (or at least photos of the trophies!) will be winging their way to three continents – South America, North America and Asia – this year.
THEMATIC PHILATELY
Amine Belaref, Algeria
Who orients himself by star doesn't turn around
Large Silver
This exhibit explains how stars are born, the birth of the first stars, their brightness and colours, the constellations, and ultimately their death. It also shows how stars are used as a symbol in different ways and for different events and introduces meanings of stars as logos.
Petr Fencl, Czech Republic
Red Stars on the Moon
Large Vermeil
The ‘Space Race’ between the Soviet Union and the USA started in the 1950s, with both countries determined to be the first to leave the imprint humans of the Moon. Although the USSR ultimately lost the ‘race’ it led to rapid technological developments in the Soviet Union.
Fabio Flosi, Brazil
Amateur Radio Activities: Surfing on Radio Waves
Large Vermeil and Class Winner
Amateur radio is enjoyed by more than 2 million people across the world. A ham radio operator operates a private, non-commercial radio station. When necessary, they support the public community providing emergency and disaster communications, saving lives, and joining people. This exhibit illustrates the technical aspects of the hobby and the activities that ham radio operators perform while ‘surfing on radio waves’.
Vitaly Khutoryanskiy, UK
Chemistry through the ages: from ancient roots to modern innovations
Large Silver
This exhibit traces major milestones in the development of chemical knowledge - from ancient inquiry to modern innovation. Starting with Islamic scholars and European alchemists, it shows how modern scientists have revealed atomic structures and created new materials; and how chemistry has transformed our understanding of nature and human life.
Sahand Malek, UK
From Chapel Wall to Letterbox
Vermeil
Two moments of renewal, five centuries apart, shape this story. In the 15th-Century Pope Nicholas V used art, architecture and scholarship to renew papal authority. Fra Angelico, working on the pope’s private chapel, painted frescos of the lives of St Stephen and St Lawrence. On the 500th-year anniversary of their deaths public attention re-focussed on Fra Angelico, Nicholas V and the Niccoline Chapel Using the frescos, the papacy selected ordination and papal authority and Italy charity and the poor. The Vatican postal authority used the chapel for its Nicholas V issue, to express papal renewal in a new age of public communication.
Pasqaule Polo, UK
Diving "Acrobatic Sport"
Vermeil
This exhibit examines divers and diving from Greek and Roman times, what platform and springboard diving is and how it led to the ‘acrobatic sport’ of competitive diving - a sport which entered the Olympic Games as part of the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.
OPEN PHILATELY
Cassie Perusse, Canada
The Rosehip: A Natural and Cultural History
Gold and Class Winner
This exhibit follows the rose’s flowering and fruiting cycle while concentrating on rosehips. It brings together realistic and symbolic imagery that reveal the way rosehips have been seen and understood in terms of nourishment; medicine; art and decoration; and how they have acquired meaning in folklore.
Guresh Mehra, India
Puffs of the Past
Large Vermeil
Cigarettes were introduced to India in the late 19th century. During the pre-independence era, the establishment of local companies, as well as the Imperial Tobacco Company, aided cigarette consumption and turned it into a symbol of modern, colonial sophistication. After independence the industry became a vital source of tax revenue. The exhibit shows how postcards, covers and advertisements played a key role making a ‘cigarette puff’ widely acceptable.
PICTURE POSTCARD
James Dickinson, UK
The Language of Love
Vermeil
The language of flowers and stamps are perhaps the best known from Victorian postcards, yet there is also more specialist "language" of cards. Many of these postcards were aimed at soldiers fighting in World War One were keen to write home to wives and sweethearts. The exhibit tells a love story using the variety of mainly French cards. Many cards are in French, and other languages, and rough translations are included
Guresh Mehra, UK
Pioneering European Airplanes (1907-1910)
Gold and Class Winner
The primary aim of this research-oriented exhibit is to present a comprehensive and visually engaging narrative of picture postcards telling the history of pioneers of European Airplanes between 1907 to 1910. The scope of the exhibit covers information about the planes and the pioneers.
Selected previous exhibits, including Seven Swabians and a forgotten rake; The Prayer “Ave Maria” sung in the Sardinian language, and The Oceanographic Institute and the Museum of Monaco: the first 50 years 1910-1960, and a frame of one-page exhibits from previous BTA competitions were also displayed.
General comments
The inclusion of virtual entries which we started last year for all competitors again reaped dividends with 10 entries. Congratulations go to the winners of the trophies for the class winners: The BTA Cup (Thematic Philately class), Fabio Flosi, Sao Paulo, Brazil; The John Fosbery Trophy (Open Philately class), Cassie Perusse, Nova Scotia, Canada; and The Brian Sole Trophy (Picture Postcard class), Guresh Mehra, Bangalore, India. The entries that fitted the idea of a limited subject being dealt with in one frame were Guresh Mehra’s ‘Puffs of the Past’, and Fabio Flosi’s ‘Amateur Radio Activities: Surfing on Radio Waves’. Many of the topics exhibited are ideal candidates for expansion to multi-frame exhibits and we hope the extensive feedback which we have provided will help some people do just that! We look forward to seeing your multi-frame exhibits competitors.
The entire show was, once again, ably organised by Association of Sussex Philatelic Societies, with BTA member Jim Etherington overseeing the frames. The BTA thanks them for accommodating us once more. The two judges played and important role and were generous with their time, thank you. Finally, our appreciation goes to the exhibitors for the thought and time the dedicated to their exhibits – well done and thank you
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