Emrick Cachets’ hand-painted/hand-drawn first day cover for the Arnold Palmer stamp took top honors as the best cachet of the year, in the American First Day Cover Society‘s annual cachetmakers contest. Bob Emrick‘s design was also the winner of the HP/HD category.

For the first time, a junior member of the AFDCS, 17-year-old Arianna Calle, won an adult category. In fact, Arianna won both first and second place in Category 3 Hand-Painted/Non-Original Art.

The results, announced at the President’s Banquet during Great American Stamp Show/Americover 2021, covered issues released during 2020. You can see all the winners here on The Virtual Stamp Club.

Emrick, who lives in a suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth, also creates hand-drawn pencil-sketch and printed cachets, all from original art. He also uses “the knowledge gained from a great career in commercial printing.” His printed covers make at least three passes through the printer which “creates a much fuller color gamut with deeper shadows and richer color,” he says. “I think the extra time and effort this requires is well worth the results.”

Bob was previously honored in the AFDCS Court of Honor in 2016, which each year features an outstanding cachetmaker’s work on a first day cover for the holiday issues. His first cachet was in 2005 for 50s Sporty Cars.

Arianna Calle is the daughter and granddaughter of professional artists Chris and Paul Calle, both of whom have designed U.S. stamps. Her covers have won first or second in the junior categories more than a dozen times previously, dating back to 2009. Her father Chris is also a past Top Cachet winner. [Arianna is shown below receiving her award from Contest Chair Rick Gibson, while AFDCS President Lloyd de Vries looks on.]

You can see the first- and second-place winners in each category here.

The AFDCS Cachetmakers Contest is held annually for the previous year’s issues, with more than fifteen categories. Besides media and production methods, they include Foreign, Events, Esoteric and Rookie of the Year. Three anonymous judges, representing collectors, dealers, and artists judge each category, then choose the best of the best for the Top Cachet honor. The cachetmaker, by the way, is not eligible for Top Cachet the following year.

The Society publishes its award-winning journal First Days six times a year, as well as handbooks and directories, sponsors philatelic exhibit awards, advocates for FDC collecting and co-hosts the big national stamp collecting show each summer. The 2022 Great American Stamp Show will be held in Sacramento, Calif.

For more information on the AFDCS, visit its website www.afdcs.org, email afdcs@afdcs.org or write to the society at Post Office Box 246, Colonial Beach, VA 22443-0246.