First Day Cover Philatelic Exhibiting: A Master Class by Andrew McFarlane is the 2024 winner of the American First Day Cover Society’s annual Philip H. Ward, Jr., 
Memorial Award for Excellence in First Day Cover Literature. It also won the Grand Award in the 2025 Great American Stamp Show literature competition as well as a large gold. The more than 500-page book was published by Exhibitors Press and is available on Amazon in both hardcover and paperback editions. Autographed copies may be ordered from his website.
The first four volumes of Kenneth M. Stern's ongoing series of catalogues of Walter G. Crosby First Day Covers, covering 1928 through 1943, was the runner-up. The fifth and final volume, 1944 through 1949, was published earlier this year. All are also available on Amazon and Stern publishes updates on his website.
"It's an honor even to be considered," said McFarlane. "Receiving the award goes beyond anything I'd ever dreamed."
As an exhibitor, he has won more than seven national exhibition Grand Awards, including that of the American First Day Cover's Americover in 2005, 2011 and 2013. McFarlane, an IT consultant, also is the recipient of the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors' Diamond Award for multi-frame exhibiting. He lives in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains with his wife Caroline.
Philip Henry Ward, Jr., began servicing first day covers in 1909. An electrical engineer by trade, he wrote on new issues for The American Philatelist, Mekeel’s Weekly Stamp News and The Weekly Philatelic Gazette in the early 20th century.
The American First Day Cover Society is a not-for-profit educational organization. In addition to publishing its journal First Days, the AFDCS also publishes handbooks and catalogues, and promotes the collecting of both modern and "classic" issues and cachets, as well as exhibiting FDCs. It offers awards for outstanding first day cover exhibits and an annual contest for cachetmakers, and is a co-host of the annual Great American Stamp Show.
