GENERAL RULES FOR COMPETITIONS
Our competitions are held for the sole purpose of encouraging new work and improving standards.
1. All entries submitted must be the original work of the Member. This includes both the capture of the image and the post-production work.
2. Entries may be home or commercially printed.
3. The capture or creation of entries shall not be more than three years old.
4.1 An image, whether in print or pdi format, may not be entered in the same competition, in the same or subsequent years, more than once.
4.2 Furthermore, an image, whether in print or pdi format, may only be entered in a maximum of two different competitions, (e.g. once in an Aggregate and once in a Nature). However the two different competitions must not be at the same Club meeting.
4.3 Entering an image in colour and then again in monochrome counts as two uses.
4.4 Multiple exposures of the same scene using a continuous shutter release mode, will count as a single capture.
5. Prints should be mounted on substantial board with adequate backing. Mounting and taping must give due regard to the avoidance of damage to other images when stacked. Mount sizes should be 500 x 400mm, tolerance ±2mm, maximum thickness 4mm, (i.e. ex PAGB).
6. Prints must have the image TITLE and members name on the reverse side at the top left. (See also 8.2 below).
7. Pdi’s must be resized to width 1400 pixels x height 1050 pixels and with a maximum file size of 2Mb. Files should be named “Image Title-Authors Name” (note use of uppercase/lowercase and hyphen separator). They must be saved in Jpeg format (using maximum quality but keeping within 2Mb). Image files must be in RGB mode (even for monochrome images) and in the sRGB colour space.
8.1 Up to 2 sets may be entered in Panel competitions and 3 images in all other competitions.
8.2 In all competitions, except Panel competitions, 3rd choice images must be indicated accordingly with Pdi files named as “Image Title-Authors Name3”. In the event of an excessive number of entries, those marked as 3rd choice, will be excluded and will be available for subsequent competitions.
9. Pdi’s should be emailed to the Pdi Competition Secretary and prints delivered to the Print Competition Secretary at addresses as published. The deadline for receipt is two weeks before each competition.
10. Nature Competitions are not subject to the traditional definition as in “Natural History”. An image may include most things in nature however must not have manmade structures as the focal point.
11. Competition Secretaries are authorised to reject entries not complying with the above Rules, any disputes being resolved by the Management Committee.
Guidelines on how to create a JPEG file using Adobe Photoshop/Elements are available upon request and are also shown in our Handbook.
Rule 3 suspension will continue for 2023 in response to Covid-19.
Click below to download a PDF of the competition rules
