[press release] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]
AFDCS Adds Assistant Editors for First Days, Other Media

The American First Day Cover Society, the world’s largest not-for-profit organization dedicated to first day cover collecting, has retained Jason Youngblood and Kristopher Wile (L-R in the photo) as assistant editors. Their primary responsibilities will be editing and laying out articles and producing graphics for First Days, the official journal of the AFDCS. However, they will also be involved in producing material for the society’s website, its YouTube Channel, and overseeing the publication of new handbooks and catalogues.

In addition, they will work on maintaining the AFDCS’ new data management system, which is tightly tied in with the website.

“Here in the third decade of the 21st century, we have the tools to do so much more than we have up to this point,” said AFDCS president Lloyd A. de Vries. “I think hiring these two young men will not only benefit the members of the AFDCS, but philately in general.”

Both men are familiar with philately and first day covers, thanks to their fathers, but were hired on their own merits.

“These were the second- and third-best applications we received,” said de Vries. “New First Days editor Anthony Bard’s was the best.”

Wile has more than 15 years of experience in the entertainment industry with a focus on film production and post-production. While at the University of North Carolina, he was an editor for the prestigious student literary magazine Cellar Door. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. His father Eric is on the AFDCS Board of Directors.

Youngblood runs his own video production company in Austin, Texas, where he lives with his wife and son. He also directs, edits and composes music and has worked with hundreds of music artists and for festivals such as Austin City Limits, SXSW (“South By Southwest”) and Boilerroom. He handles layout and design for several philatelic publications, often working with his father Wayne.

The American First Day Cover Society is a not-for-profit educational organization, established in 1955. In addition to First Days, the AFDCS also publishes handbooks and catalogues, and promotes the collecting of both modern and “classic” issues and cachets, as well as the exhibiting of FDCs.

For more information about the AFDCS, visit www.afdcs.org, e-mail afdcs@afdcs.org or write the AFDCS at Post Office Box 57, Somerset, WI 54025-0057.