The selection of the 2014 Class for the International Diplomacy Hall of Fame is complete, but before I announce the names of this year’s inductees let’s pause and remember our previous members: Edi Birsan, John Boardman, Walter Buchanan, Allen B. Calhamer (deceased), Fred Davis, Jr., John Koning (deceased), John McCallum, Don Miller (deceased), Hal Naus (deceased), Conrad von Metzke, and Rod Walker. I also want to thank the members of this year’s Nominations and Elections Committee: Bernard Andrioli, Chris Babcock, Doug Beyerlein, Edi Birsan, Chris Brand, Walter Buchanan, Jim Burgess, Davide Cleopadre, Don Del Grande, David Hood, Toby Harris, Laurent Joly, Dorian Love, James O’Kelley, Giuseppe Salerno, Conrad Woodring and Jim Yerkey. There were 23 nominees with seconds this year: Nathan Barnes, Xavier Blanchot, Jim Bumpas, Kathy Byrne Caruso, Davide Cleopadre, Steve Cooley, Marco Ferrari, Manus Hand, David Hood, Laurent Joly, Doug Kent, Eric Klien, Gwen Maggi, Chris Martin, Doug Moore, David Norman, Luca Pazzaglia, Mike Rocamora, Cyrille Sevin, Richard Sharp, Rob Stephenson, Richard Walkerdine and Don Williams. The 18 selected for the Class of 2014 included: Nathan Barnes, Xavier Blanchot, Kathy Byrne Caruso, Davide Cleopadre, Marco Ferrari, Manus Hand, David Hood, Laurent Jolly, Doug Kent, Eric Klien, Gwen Maggi, Chris Martin, David Norman, Luca Pazzaglia, Cyrille Sevin, Richard Sharp, Richard Walkerdine and Don Williams. Unfortunately, Kathy Byrne Caruso, Richard Sharp, Richard Walkerdine and Don Williams were elected posthumously. I will let their families know of their selection. Following the policy I set 30 years ago I will not divulge the specific results of the election. However, I will say that although every nominee was seconded there was a clear separation between those who were selected and those who were not, so no “close calls.” Second, I was pleased to see an omission made many years ago corrected with the election of a good number of non-Americans. I note that in every case the non-American nominees received significant support from American members of the Committee. So, we are finally living up to our name “The International Diplomacy Hall of Fame.” Good. Although much progress was made with this year’s election there is still work to be done. There are still some national and regional hobbies underrepresented in the IDHOF: Australia, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands and Sweden all come to mind. Some of the sub-hobbies are also underrepresented. And, of course, there is still work to be done in recognizing those from the hobby’s early years. But in time these omissions can and will be corrected. More urgently, we need to make some organizational and administrative decisions; and start work on some ongoing projects that will give the IDHOF substance. I discussed those at length in the last issue of Diplomacy World, and if you didn’t read what I wrote then I suggest you do so now. To briefly (Well, as briefly as I can but not as briefly as Doug Kent would like I’m sure . ) summarize: I’m still looking for an individual or a pair of volunteers to replace me; I’m looking for continuing or new Committee members; I propose that all active current members of the IDHOF be included in future IDHOF Nominations and Elections Committees with voting rights; I’m pleased several people have volunteered their technical skills to help with some of the projects I mentioned last Fall. I hope others will also volunteer. Administration decisions on things like: When should the next election be? How many nominees should there be? What qualifications should nominees have? Etc. etc. I think all of that can be discussed on the IDHOF Facebook site going forward, but the decisions should be made by the next Committee since they’re going to have to do the work. Finally, I hope we can begin work posthaste on some ongoing projects: a second Facebook Page or Web site as a hobby informational source on the IDHOF; an IDHOF Database; a collection of relevant links to other online sites; and a collection of biographies and photos of IDHOF members for our own web site. Volunteers? On a personal note, it gives me a great deal of satisfaction to see the IDHOF revived. For too long the hobby has focused on its organizations, events, publications, etc. We’ve neglected the most important element of the hobby — our members. Now we’ve begun to correct that. It’s high time. For readers of TDP I hope you'll join us in boosting our representatives of the sub-hobbies and working as volunteers on some of those ongoing projects that need a quick jump start! Larry Peery (peery@ix.netcom.com) If you wish to e-mail feedback on this article to the author, and clicking on the envelope above does not work for you, feel free to use the "Dear DP..." mail interface.