The new blue Grand Master's jacket was introduced by R.W. Grand Master Robert L. Dluge, Jr., during an anniversary celebration at Temple Lodge No. 248, Tunkhannock. The jacket, in the color of the Blue Lodge, is now being awarded for first-line petition signers instead of the purple jackets that had been awarded for four years.

The Grand Master's awards program is ongoing and all of the guidelines of the original awards program prevail whereby a first-line signer of a petition of a candidate who becomes a Mason is eligible to earn a jacket one time. Verification of the first-line signing of a petition must be given by the signer's lodge Secretary and forwarded by the Secretary to the Grand Lodge Office of Masonic Education.

The Grand Master has called upon all lodges to participate in the awards program and keep the requests for jackets current. Any brother who has been an eligible first-line signer of a petition since Jan. 1, 1999 and has not received a jacket should contact his lodge Secretary and ask him to submit the appropriate application for a blue jacket.