The publications of the year have been distinguished for their merit, general polish, and scholarly editorship. The percentage of crude matter appearing in print has been reduced to a minimum through the careful and conscientious critical service rendered both by the official bureau and by private individuals. The artistic standard of the United has evolved to a point where no aims short of excellence can win unqualified approval. The classics have become our sole models, and whilst even the most glaring faults of the sincere beginner receive liberal consideration and sympathetically constructive attention, there is no longer a seat of honour for complacent crudity. Genuine aspiration is our criterion of worth. The spirit of this newer amateur journalism is splendidly shown by such magazines of the year as =Eurus=, =Spindrift=, =The Vagrant=, and the official organ. Just before the close of the present term, several new publications have appeared, amongst them a =Vagrant=, a =Conservative=, and Mr. Moloney's splendid first venture, =The Voice From the Mountains=. Early in the next fiscal year will appear =The United Co-Operative=, the fruit of this year's planning, edited by Mrs. Jordan, Miss Lehr, Mr. J. Clinton Pryor, and the undersigned. A revival of manuscript magazines, inaugurated by the appearance of Sub-Lieut. McKeag's =Northumbrian=, is in a measure solving the problems created by the high price of printing. Next month the undersigned will put into circulation =Hesperia=, a typewritten magazine designed to foster a closer relationship between British and American amateurdom. Judges of Award for the Laureateship contests have been appointed as follows: Poetry, Mr. Nixon Waterman, a New-England bard who needs no introduction to the lover of lofty and graceful expression. Verse, Dr. Henry T. Schnittkind of the Stratford Publishing Co. Essay, Prof. Lewis P. Shanks of the University of Pennsylvania. Study, Mr. J. Lee Robinson, Editor of the =Cambridge Tribune=. Story, Mr. William R. Murphy of the Philadelphia =Evening Ledger=, a former United man of the highest attainments. Editorial, Hon. Oliver Wayne Stewart, Associate Editor of =The National Enquirer=. In doffing the official mantle after a year of executive endeavour, the undersigned must express regret at his inability to serve in as vigorous a manner as would the ideal President. He is acutely conscious of his shortcomings in a position which demands constant care and exertion, and which imposes a strain that only the robust are perfectly qualified to bear. It would be impossible for him fully to express his gratitude to his faithful and capable colleagues, to whose unremitting and faultlessly co-ordinated efforts all the successes of the present year must in justice be attributed. Valete! H. P. LOVECRAFT, President. June 26, 1918. _THE UNITED AMATEUR_