Since 1940, the Luff Award has been the most prestigious award that the American Philatelic Society bestows upon living philatelists. The Luff Award was established in memory of John N. Luff, APS president from 1907 to 1909, who was considered the most prominent American philatelist of his era. The award is now in its 80th year.

The APS Luff Awards are available annually for:

• Distinguished Philatelic Research
• Exceptional Contributions to Philately
• Outstanding Service to the American Philatelic Society

The Luff Awards are presented annually during the American Philatelic Society’s convention and exhibition. Recipients sign the Luff Award Scroll and are presented with engraved rings. The 2020 Luff Award winners will join a distinguished company of 173 prominent philatelists.

For Exceptional Contributions to Philately –

Yamil H. Kouri, Jr. 

Yamil H. Kouri, Jr. is a nationally and internationally acclaimed philatelic judge, also known for his leadership in countless organizations and institutions, his award-winning exhibits, books, monographs and articles, and his commitment to original philatelic research.

Yamil started collecting stamps as a child, peeling the stamps off the envelopes he received from his family in Cuba. He became interested in postal history in the late 1970s and published his first article on postal history in 1982. Since then, he has written close to 180 articles, most of them consisting of original research. His work has covered a wide variety of subjects, but primarily focuses on the maritime and military mail of Spain, former Spanish colonies, Cuba, the United States and several European countries. His articles have appeared in nearly twenty different philatelic journals.

Yamil’s first book, The Postal History of Spanish New Orleans, appeared in 2004. Subsequently he co-authored three other books on maritime and colonial postal history and wrote and presented six specialized monographs. His latest book, Under Three Flags, The Postal History of the Spanish-Cuban/American War, was published in early 2020.

Yamil’s interest in exhibiting began when he was a teenager. He has received several large gold medals with four different exhibits at FIP-sponsored international exhibitions. In addition, he is a chief judge in the United States and an accredited international judge in postal history at the FIP level.

Yamil is a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society, a numbered member of the Real Academia Hispánica de Filatelia e Historia Postal, and a member of the European Academy of Philately and the International Postal History Fellowship; he belongs to more than twenty philatelic organizations in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. He is the president of the Postal History Society (United States), a member of the board of the American Philatelic Congress, and chairman of the board of the Spellman Museum of Stamps & Postal History. He is the former president of the Cuban Philatelic Society and past editor of its journal, The Cuban Philatelist.

He has served as vice-president of the American Philatelic Society and is currently the vice-president of the Federación Interamericana de Filatelia (FIAF).

Yamil organizes the annual Spellman Museum Postal History Symposium, now on its seventh year, and is vice-president of the Boston 2026 World Stamp Expo.

Yamil’s notable philatelic recognitions, awarded for exhibiting and writing, include the following: the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society’s Ashbrook Cup (2004 and 2019); USPCS Distinguished Philatelist (2019); APS Champion of Champions (2019); and the American Philatelic CongressWalter R. McCoy Award (2013).

He has five children, ranging in age between 30 and 19 years, all of them still furthering their education along the east coast. His wife Suzanne patiently supports, and tolerates, his philatelic obsession. When he is not engaged in philately or family activities, he works as an oncologist and hematologist in the Boston area.