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Editor's note: Montserrat nominated Domènec for the award, providing information on his long history of researching and sharing bookmarks. When we made the award to him, he requested that we also honor Montserrat, saying that the collection and their activities wouldn't be the same without her contributions. So, the judges agreed to make the award to both, and as their answers indicate, they truly have a partnership centered around promoting bookmarks. In the answers below, D: indicates his responses and M: identifies her responses. They sent their answers in Spanish which have been translated using Google. 1.Tell us about yourself – where you are from, your occupation, etc.  D: I'm 70 years old and from Catalonia, currently retired. Montse is my partner. M: I'm from Catalonia, an Autonomous Community of Spain. My city is small with just under 70,000 inhabitants. It's called Girona and has a lot of history. We have it all: to the east, the Mediterranean Sea with a beautiful coastline called the Costa Brava, and to the north, the Pyrenees mountain range that separates us from France. I'm 67 years old and currently retired, but I've dedicated many years to extracurricular education. I'm an outdoor activities director, a children's sports coach, and a basketball coach, among other things... 2. How did you start collecting bookmarks? Do you remember your first bookmark? D: I started after finding the bookmark for Umberto Eco's novel "The Name of the Rose." I wanted to have a bookmark for every book I read. M: I started collecting bookmarks by chance. I've always been a big reader, and after an operation that kept me at home for months, barely able to walk, I realized I had a few bookmarks in a drawer. I thought I could collect them, and I mentioned it to my friends, asking them if they had any at home and weren't using them to give them to me. So, after a few months, I already had quite a pile. Then a couple of collectors from my city introduced me (I thought I was the only weirdo who collected them), and that's how I started to change. I started going to Barcelona to the meetings, and the collection gradually grew. I don't remember my first bookmark because there were several. 3. Do you have any favorite types or special emphasis in your collection? D: I especially like the early 20th-century Art Nouveau or Modernist bookmarks. M: I have several favorites in the collection, but one is very simple. It was made to raise money for the Sarajevo library, which was destroyed during the Bosnian War. This one is also a religious bookmark that was probably made as a complement to the book, Volume II of the Letters of Saint Teresa of Avila, according to what can be read on the bookmark. We can date it to 1752.
4. What is the most unusual bookmark in your collection? D. & M: Well, in the collection we have all kinds of bookmarks, the most original you can imagine. We have some with holes of different sizes that are spaghetti portion measurers, others with a built-in magnifying glass, others made of paper made from elephant dung, etc. 5. How do you acquire your bookmarks? D. & M: From donations from people who have stopped collecting, from gifts from friends' trips, but above all from exchanges either by mail or at the many collecting gatherings held in Catalonia. 6. How many bookmarks do you have (an estimate)? 
We have several glass display cases where we display our most valuable pieces, like Coventry silk and others. We also have organizing drawers for silver, gold, wood, etc. We try to keep the most beautiful ones visible so we can enjoy them and not leave them in a box. 
8. What has been your experience in using the IFOB Swap List, if any? D. & M: Yes, we've had several contacts with collectors on the IFOB list, but we've always been the ones who contacted them to arrange exchanges. Some have been and continue to be very positive, but with others we've only done one exchange. We like to have bookmarks from all over the world, but since we have so many, we prefer specific themes from a specific country, which are sometimes difficult to find. 9. What do you enjoy about IFOB? Is there anything you would like to see IFOB do in the future? D: I especially like the articles on the history of bookmarks, as it's a topic I research and am passionate about. M: I like that IFOB promotes bookmarks worldwide. I would like them to encourage collectors to make duplicate albums so they can make more equitable exchanges. We don't mind the 1-for-1, but we do care about knowing what we're getting in return. 10. Do you have any plans to celebrate World Bookmark Day next time? D.& M: Yes, we'll continue asking friends to make a bookmark for this day. We'll try to hold an exhibition at a library or community center. Of course, we'll hold a mega-meeting where we'll give away bookmarks, and we'll hold a talk at a library or school with young people. 11. Do you collect anything else?
12. Is there anything else you would like to share? D.& M: We'd like to say that collecting has helped us make many friends. To begin with, we met through collecting bookmarks at a difficult time in our lives. We've had great friends who are no longer with us, but we still remember them fondly, and we have many others with whom we remain in touch. We always say we're a big family and we help each other. The exchanges allow us to stay in touch physically and enjoy a good day, since we almost always end them with a good meal. 13. Do you have any advice for those who are just beginning to collect? D: Don't get overwhelmed and choose a main topic. Also, know that collecting is about sharing knowledge and friendship. M: I'm not much for giving advice, since now when I see someone starting to collect, they do the same thing I did when I started: grab everything that came my way, regardless of the topic. I think it would be better to start with the topics you like the most, but I'm aware that there are so many attractive (I don't like to say pretty) bookmarks that you can't refuse. 14. As winners of the Asim Maner Award, tell us more about what you have done to promote bookmarks for World Bookmark Day or in general.
M: I limit myself to offering opinions or proposing activities, such as exchange meetings, exhibitions, talks, etc. I manage the blog (Mondopunts MON de Montse, DO de Domènec y Punts, which means bookmark in Catalan), email, and postal exchanges, and I help set up bookmark exhibitions. I've been collecting for over 25 years (20 alongside Domènec), and we've done a variety of activities in different parts of Spain. We've organized national meetings in several Spanish capitals to bring together collector friends, who have as many opportunities as we do in Catalonia, where, as I've already mentioned, we're very active. These Spanish capitals are Catalonia (Girona and Tarragona), Castilla León (Salamanca), Cantabria (Santander), Madrid, Castilla la Mancha (Toledo), and Asturias (Gijón). We're planning to hold more if our health allows...
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Editor's Note: Gintautas has a unique approach to showcasing and sharing his bookmarks. He started an IFOB Gallery, Bookmarks Speak, to show bookmarks in complementary settings, and he has contributed to the Owls and Countries galleries. He is also tireless in exhibiting and making presentations about bookmarks. Search for him under Member News to see more than what is highlighted here. Congratulations! 1. Tell us about yourself – where you are from, your occupation, etc.
2. How did you start collecting bookmarks? Do you remember your first bookmark? When actively reading scientific and fiction literature, I need a book accessory - a marker to mark the reading place. Having worked in the field of protocol for many years, I realized that a bookmark can also serve well as a souvenir. So I started to organize their production. Here is one of the first bookmarks:  Personal book "Let's get up..." together with book tabs (author G. Deksnys)
3. Do you have any favorite types or special emphasis in your collection? How do you select the ones used in your exhibitions and presentations? While evaluating bookmarks of various nature and material structure, I focus more on those made of paper (and packaged). For exhibitions and presentations the most important principle is that I appreciate the bookmark. Some bookmarks leave room for their holistic development, development or perspective of the content provided, while others say nothing but coded information. I try to work with publishers who tend to print bookmarks that have a value base. I am still searching for reserves of perspective within myself. I really love life, unrequited but balanced, which I see in the bookmarks I select. 4. What is the most unusual bookmark in your collection? I include the gifts of nature in this category, an example in the photo below:  Gift of the Baltic Sea - the bookmark is different 5. How do you acquire your bookmarks?
6. How many bookmarks do you have (an estimate)? Lately, I've been focusing my collections on quality along three parameters: bookmarks with regular value, bookmarks with special value, and bookmarks with personal value. According to this, the individual topics combine close to 3 thousand. bookmarks. I don't place a particular priority on the amount of bookmarks. I appreciate the holistic uniqueness of bookmarks.  7. How do you organize, display and store your collection? The personal bookmark basket stores bookmarks with normal value (institutions, advertising, organizations, etc.). Thematic bookmark collections are stored in binders (originals), but all bookmarks are digitized. It's a great gift to the audience. 8. What has been your experience in using the IFOB Swap List? I haven't accumulated enough bookmarks for the day yet to exchange. But this type of activity should be encouraged. 9. What do you enjoy about IFOB? Anything you would like to see IFOB do in the future? Several years of activity in the IFOB have highlighted community spirit. This, I think, is the strong and main form of club activity, chosen for sincere communication, uniting into one family on the principle of volunteerism, responding to everyone's strong and versatile activities and experiences. That is precious.  10. What did you do to celebrate World Bookmark Day this year?
11. Do you collect anything else? In addition to bookmarks, I collect historical postcards, but not as actively. But together with the bookmarks, they also serve during creative meetings.  In memory of the first Lithuanian photographer and postcard maker Paulina Mongirdaitė (2023, Palanga, Lithuania) 12. Do you have any advice for those who are just beginning to collect bookmarks? First, it is necessary to realize that direct accumulation of bookmarks is not a prerequisite for collections, and secondly, it is necessary to love them.  13. Anything else you would like to share? In order to spread the creative process and share the result (Process Art), I would be happy to share my paintings by sending them to your exhibition in various countries around the world. My original works are presented in two formats: in frames and 3 mm panels (plastic). Recently, I have been writing for many different creative meetings of audiences of various ranks, not only as a lecturer, but to a greater extent as a collector of bookmarks or the author of exhibitions about them. This is the collective result of all of us, including IFOB. I'm currently on a creative sabbatical, during which I've committed to finishing an authored book about bookmarks. I am truly grateful.
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