Competition Rules & Definitions

Each year The Society will hold competitions for the trophies listed in Appendix One. These competitions will be the Portrait Competition, the Natural History Competition, Open Competitions and such other competitions as the members may require on either a theme or open choice of subjects. Each competition evening will include sections for junior, novice and advanced. The competition for the Harry Stephenson Trophy can be for either colour or monochrome prints.

The judging of the Portrait Competition, Natural History Competition and Open Competitions will be assessed by an independent judge who will be required to mark the entries as follows. All projected images and prints either in colour or monochrome in each category must be given a mark out of TEN.  These marks are accumulated throughout the year for the Colour Print Trophy or The Irving Bell Cup.

Each category must also have a clear First, Second and Third placement. There cannot be any equal placing in these competitions.   All prints placed First in these competitions will go forward as entries into The Ron Newton Trophy Print of the Year.

All those prints and projected images placed First, Second, Third or scoring nine and a half or above in these competitions will qualify as entries into either The Print of the Year or Projected Image of the Year competitions as appropriate. Prints placed First qualify for both the Ron Newton Print of the Year as well as The Print of the Year.  Prints and projected images scoring nine and a half or higher or ranked first, second or third cannot be used in any other of The Society’s competitions other than the Ron Newton Trophy, The Print of the Year, Projected Image of the Year or the Annual Exhibition.

The following definitions apply to the competitions:

Junior:  A registered member who is under the age of 16 years on 1^st September of the year.

Novice:  A registered member who has NOT gained recognized photographic Qualifications, is not a professional or semi-professional photographer, has not work published commercially, has not been in the advanced section of another Camera Club or has not won the Novice Section of this Society in any Open Competition.

Advanced:  A registered member, who has gained photographic qualifications, had work published commercially, been in the advanced section of another Camera Club or won the Novice Section of this Society in any Open Competition.  Any registered member can elect to compete in the Advanced section, however once having competed in that section they cannot revert to the Novice section.

Portrait:  A human subject, either indoors or outdoors, where the human subject is the main interest.

Natural History:   Any living, plant, insect, bird, reptile or animal in its natural environment.  Cultivated plants, caged, domesticated or caged insects, birds, reptiles or animals are not eligible. Any digital or any other manipulation to the original image should be restricted to retouching of blemishes and not alter the content of the original scene.

Monochrome Image:  An image that contains a range of tones of a single colour.

Theme:   A subject relating to the theme selected for the competition

Open:   Any subject.

Projected Image:  A digitally projected image.

Rules applying to all competitions except the Ron Newton Trophy, Print and Projected Image of the Year and Calendar Trophy.

1. All Images will be judged by an independent judge.
2. There will be three sections in all competitions: Junior, Novice and Advanced.
3. All winning images will be entered into the Ron Newton Trophies.
4. There will be Monochrome and Colour sections in all Open Competitions and the Portrait Competition.  Monochrome Prints, Colour Prints and Digital Images will compete equally in the Natural History, the Print of the Year, the Projected Image of the Year and the Ron Newton competitions.
5. Whichever section a member is in, he or she will remain in that section until the end of the Season unless requested to move sections by the Committee.
6. An image, the same or similar that has not previously been entered in an Open Competition, or where it has been entered and has not scored nine and a half or above, or been ranked first, second or third, may only be used on two occasions across all competitions with the exception of the Annual Exhibition or where it has qualified for that competition. 

Other Rules

1. A member submitting work into a competition must be the originator of the image and hold the copyright to that image.
2. The Committee can request a Novice participate in the Advanced section at the start of each season if in its opinion the members work is consistent with that of the Advanced section.
3. Images should be home or printed commercially.
4. Each member can submit a maximum of three images in each section of a competition except where specified by the committee.
5. With the exception of projected images, all entries for internal competitions must be submitted to the Competition Secretary, or member acting in place of that Officer, before 7.30pm on the evening of the competition. The Competition Secretary, in exceptional circumstances, has the discretion to accept entries after that time if it can be done conveniently.
6. Digital images for the Projected competitions must be submitted to the Competition Secretary, or member acting in place of that Officer, a minimum of seven days prior to the date of the competition for which they are to be entered.  Digital images for projection should be submitted on CD or memory stick.  The CD’s or memory sticks will be returned to the author but the Society will retain a copy of the digital image unless the author has specifically requested for this not to happen.
7. Only registered members of the Society are eligible to enter the Societies competitions.
8. The Competition Secretary may disqualify entries submitted if they are not submitted in accordance with these rules, and shall notify the member concerned of any such decision. If the member so wishes the entry may be exhibited for comment by the Judge, who should be informed of the disqualification.

Sizes, processing, mounting and submission of prints.

1. Prints must be mounted for display. Print mounts in all competitions must be a minimum of 9” x 6” (50mm x 15mm) and a maximum of 20” x 16” (500mm x 400mm), including the mount.  They must not be framed or glazed.
2. The member's name must be displayed on the back of all prints or print mounts, and they must display a title for the print.