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Pillars of the Exhibition. From left: Lorenzo Chazapis, in charge of hospitality and airport, Costas Chazapis, General Commissioner; George Sparis, President of the Organizing Committee and Joakim Chalvatdjidopoulos, the floor manager (photo by Nikos Mallouchos member of the OC responsible for Customs matters).

Many philatelists around the world thought that it was an utopia when they heard the concept behind NOTOS 2015. Organisers had as main ingredients: Exhibitors willing to exhibit; A strong team of qualified volunteers and a suitable exhibition hall. Their principal targets: High exhibition standards; Low exhibitor’s fees (20 Euros/ Frame); Reasonable budget: Free-of-charge exhibition hall; No publications or printings except Certificates; Instead: updated website, on-line forms etc.; No exhibitors’ medals; Certificates, SP, GP etc. as per GREX, FREGEX: No remuneration to Jury and Commissioners; Travel and accommodation as per GREX, FREGEX; Lots of man-hours contribution.

What happened in practice? The reality exceeded the most optimistic expectations. The ability, imagination, expertise and friendship applied, made of NOTOS 2015 an incredible success with a budget of 41.000 euros only i.e 10% approximately of the standard budgets for similar exhibitions.The amazing thing is that the funds were provided by the Hellenic Philotelic Society only. Which Philatelic Society can finance an international exhibition, if we possibly exclude APS or RPSL?

NOTOS 2015 proved to be a milestone in the organization of future philatelic exhibitions for many reasons.

The venue, the very good and plenty of space Peristeri Exhibition Center, was 15 minutes far from the official Hotel, by direct line Metro. The design of the exhibition was very clever in order to admire the excellent exhibits they were able to attract; The completely renovated 4 stars Hotel right in the centre of Athens, in front of the Parliament, next to Metro station, providing excellent facilities and services; The organisation was efficient, punctual but still friendly made easier the Commissioner’s tasks. The website was outstanding. Please do not miss it: http://hps.gr/notos2015/ . The work of the Jury and the Expert Team was especially valuable as seldom you can find a jury with members so knowledgeable of the material of the South European and Balkan countries. All of it impregnated of innovative solutions which for sure will be applied in the future international exhibitions.

To achieve it is necessary not only to be very clever, efficient and ready to work extremely hard as they has done, but also a lot of courage to go over such enormous task with such a limited budget, that was not noticed as the quality of all aspects of the exhibition exceeded the international standards. Congratulations!

Left: Costas Chazapis,General Commissioner of NOTOS 2015, welcomes the audience on behalf of the OC and the Hellenic Philotelic Society. Right: General view, Grand Opening of “NOTOS 2015 International Philatelic Exhibition”

Left: José Ramón Moreno, FEPA President,  Pantelis Leoussis President of the Hellenic Philatelic Federation and Wolfgang Maassen President of the AIJP, Association Internationale des Journalistes Philatéliques while cutting the ribbon. Right : Moses Constantinis Philatelic Counsel to the Hellenic Post with ex Minister George Anomeritis and members of the Hellenic Post stand.

Left: L. Chazapis, Dr. Rui Tereno, Ambassador of Portugal, Mrs. Mary Tsiota, Deputy Mayor of Peristeri, J-R Moreno FEPA President, Pedro Vaz Pereira President of the Portuguese Philatelic Federation, Mrs. Vaz Pereira, Eduardo Barreiros, and Mrs. Tereno. Right, L. Chazapis hosting an elemetary school pupils with their teachers among the frames.

The entry forms were accepted from: Exhibitors of the 21 invited NOTOS countries (Bosnia & Herzegovina abstained) with any kind of exhibit. Exhibitors outside NOTOS with exhibits related to the European South. Philatelic Literature exhibitors worldwide with no restriction on the subject.

The initial target of 800 frames was easily surpassed, since exhibitors mainly from the countries of the European South applied for considerably more frames . The Organizing Committee decided to increase the total exhibition space to 3.500 m², so that, a total of 1250 frames were finally accommodated, including three invited collections and Jury Class exhibits.

Participated the 20 invited countries of the European South and Balkan Peninsula, along with exhibitors from Austria, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Pakistan, People’s Republic of China, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States. In total there was a participation of 36 countries.

Left, the evaluation of the Literature Class was done at the premises of the Hellenic Philotelic Society. Right: The  127 exhibits of Philatelic Literature were then presented at a specially provided area of the Exhibition Hall, in order to display the richness of philatelic research and the development of philatelic knowledge. In front of the Literature Corner, the Special Prizes.

The Philatelic Literature Supplement is a wonderful catalogue including all relevant details of every item, not to be missed:http://hps.gr/notos2015/philatelic-literature-supplement/

The Commissiorers of NOTOS 2015. From left: Thimjo NIKA, Albania; Les GLASSMAN, Israel; Christakis IOANNOU, Cyprus; Dino MURIC, Croatia; Francisco GALLEGOS, Spain; Jose Ramon MORENO, FEPA President; Sinisha PAVLESKI, FYROM; Costas Chazapis, General Commissioner; Tomo KATURIC, Montenegro; Slobodan MEANDZIJA, Serbia; Alfred Kunz, FEPA Consultant; Veselko GUŠTIN, Slovenia; Mehmet AKAN, Turkey; Spas PANCHEV, Bulgaria; Pedro VAZ PEREIRA, Portugal; Francisc AMBRUS, Romania; Claude DESARMENIEN, France.

The international Jury of NOTOS 2015. From left: Emanoil SAVOIU, Peter SUHADOLC, Eliahu WEBER, Alexios PAPADOPOULOS (Apprentice), Eduardo ESCALADA-GOICOECHEA (Expert), Jean François BRUN (Expert), George THOMAREIS, Mario MENTASCHI, José Ramón MORENO, Alexandre GALINOS, Anthony VIRVILIS, Zoran STEPANOVIC, Sherif SAMRA, Alfred KUNZ (FEPA Consultant), Nicos RANGOS, Jean Pierre MAGNE, Manuel PORTOCARRERO, Ziya AĞAOĞULLARI, Akis CHRISTO (Apprentice), Boncho BONEV and Neoklis ZAFEIRAKOPOULOS.

Left P. Leoussis, President of the Hellenic Philatelic Federation handing over the National Grand Prix to Anestis Karayannidis (Canada). Right Anthony Virvilis President of the Jury handing over the Grand Prix International to Vittorio Morani (Italy).

 Left, J-Ramon Moreno, Michele Chauvet Grand Prix winner of the Class des Chamipons, A. Virvilis and J-P. Magne Secretary of the Jury. Right, A. Kunz, FEPA Consultant of NOTOS 2015, handing over the FEPA 25^th anniversary commemorative memento to A. Virvilis, past Board member of FEPA.

Left, Spas Panchev President of the Bulgarian Philatelic Federation (middle) handing over to Costas Chazapis, General Commissioner of NOTOS 2015(left) and A. Virvilis a commemorative medal for the success of NOTOS 2015. Right, J-R. Moreno FEPA Presidet handing over to Costas Chazapis a silver plate for his outstanding work in NOTOS 2015.

Left, A. Virvilis, Wolfgang Maassen, President of the International Association of Philatelic Journalists and Authors and the members of the Organising Committee J. Chalvadjidopoulos, B. Petrochilos, N. Mallouchos, A. Nikolaidis, A. Manoloudis and C. Chazapis deliver the AIJP flag.