During the 29th International Congress of Vexillology (ICV) Ljubljana, 11-15 July 2022, in front of the audience of some 50 vexillologists from all over the world, HGZD president Željko Heimer delivered a golden medal and honorary membership of the HGZD to Edward B. (Ted) Kaye. For the occasion the flag-bearer of the HGZD flag was Dr. Jovan Jonovski, who is a HGZD member since it was established in 2006.
HGZD established medals for merits on the occasion of marking of its 15th anniversary of establishment, and this was the first such golden medal awarded together with a honorary membership in the Association. The Golden Medal is awarded as a symbol of recognition for many years of merits and contributions in achieving Association’s goals. An Honorary Member can become a person who, through personal work and commitment, has particularly contributed to the achievement of the Association’s goals.
Edward B. Kaye, among vexillologists also known as Ted Kaye kindly and patiently proofread and copy-edited the English texts of HGZD journal Grb i zastava (GiZ) for ten years, that is, for twenty issues, i.e. from GiZ issue nr. 11 of May 2012 to GiZ issue nr. 30 of November 2021. Ted also collaborated on the English translation of a number of other editions of HGZD in that period.
Ted Kaye joined the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) in 1985 and has helped organize ten NAVA annual meetings, including the 12th ICV in San Francisco (1987) and the 24th ICV in Washington, D.C. (2011). As CFO of a technology company in Portland, Oregon, he was treasurer of NAVA 2001–2012, and since 2017 he has served as NAVA’s secretary. He has published his scholarship in American and British vexillological journals. He edited the North American vexillological journal Raven from 1996 to 2012, including stand-alone books on American City Flags, Canadian City Flags, American Indian Flags, and Russian Regional Flags. He helped found the Portland Flag Association (PFA) in 1994, and since 2011 he has been the editor of the PFA’s bi-monthly Vexilloid Tabloid (published since 1999). He has also edited several other monographs and proceedings, often helping his non-native-English-speaking colleagues (he ushered portions of Heimer’s doctoral thesis into a monograph and a book). But his fame derives most from his booklet “Good” Flag, “Bad” Flag (NAVA, 2006, updated 2020) which has been translated into seven languages and is widely accepted as a guide to effective flag design. He consults widely on city, state, and national flag re-design efforts and gives frequent media interviews on flag subjects.
This award consists of a certificate with his merits described in it and a gilded medal of 25 mm in diameter produced of cast alloy with a stylized HGZD coat of arms in 2-D surface treated relief, attached to a tricolor of 13×40 mm with a safety pin on its reverse. A circular inscription is engraved on the medal reverse “Hrvatsko grboslovno i zastavoslovno društvo” and two line inscription in the center of it bearing the years of the Association foundation and establishment of the medal as well as the Association’s seat “2006. – 2021./Zagreb”. Honorary members are permanently exempted from the obligation to pay membership fees.
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