Mr. Donald Stinson, President of Stinson Band Organ Company, Bellefontaine Ohio, was honored with the prestigious Darlene Mirijanian Creativity Award during a Musical Box Society International Convention held in Long Beach, CA August 27-31, 2003. The Darlene Mirijanian Creativity Award recognizes individuals who achieve outstanding accomplishments in the development and production of new innovative mechanical music-related products. This award was created in memory of one of MBSI's most creative members, Darlene Mirijanian, who passed away in April 1995. The first award was presented to Susan Jackson in 1996. There have been only five such MBSI recognition awards presented since. Recipients are selected by a screening committee, and then approved by MBSI Trustees, who deemed Mr. Stinson to be the most recent qualifying and well-deserved recipient.

The Musical Box Society International, chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the enjoyment, study and preservation of automatic musical instruments. Founded in 1949, it now has several thousand members in the U.S. and seventeen other countries, and supports various educational projects including the publishing of periodicals (sent regularly to members) and books, and museums. The only requirements for membership are an interest in automatic musical instruments and the desire to share information about them.

When initially formed, MBSI's scope of interest was limited to the collection and preservation of instruments, which play music by plucking teeth on a tuned steel comb. The scope of interest now extends to encompass all automatically played musical instruments - musical boxes, musical automata, player and reproducing pianos and organs, phonographs, and self-playing string, wind, and percussion instruments of all kinds. Additional information about MBSI and membership can be obtained on the MBSI website: http://www.mbsi.org.