General Competition Rules & Procedures
ASSESSMENT MEETINGS
Assessment meeting nights are held on the 2nd Wednesday of each month. Photos are appraised by a qualified judge and points are awarded at the judge’s discretion. Details of entries submitted and awards received should be completed on the Assessment form provided and handed to the Assessment Coordinator after the judging. Every image entered will receive points, regardless of whether it is awarded further by the judge, however no points will be awarded if the Assessment Form has not been handed in or if the member has not paid their annual fee.
ENTRY CATEGORIES AND REQUIREMENTS
The categories are:
SET SUBJECT - Colour, Monochrome
OPEN SUBJECT - Colour, Monochrome
Monochrome refers to images comprising of a single hue. Examples are black and white with shades of grey or black and white images toned with a single other colour, for example sepia.
Creative or ‘altered reality’ images are allowed in any of the four categories.
A maximum of three images can be entered at each assessment meeting. Images can be submitted in any category without restriction. Effectively this means you can put all your images (still a maximum of three) in the one category, whether that be set colour or set monochrome or open colour or open mono.
Photographs must be mounted (the exception being new members - see below) – that is placed with a mat. There are no size restrictions, however prints are typically sized A4 to A3 (but no larger than A3), plus mount.
Prints must be original images photographed by the entrant. Images must have been photographed within the last five years before assessment except where an older image is re-presented in a different manner. Examples include scanning old film slides and re-processing into fine art prints.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Use of Artificial Intelligence is against the spirit of the club’s purpose and must not be used to edit your image in any way. Software suites like photoshop offer the option to either use or not use AI when performing certain edits like background removal for example. You should disable AI when editing images for club competition.
All prints must have the author's name and the title of the photograph written on the back of the submission and should also indicate the correct orientation (e.g. “TOP”). Names should not be printed on the front of the photo.
For new members and visitors within their first competition year an optional Mini-Print section exists for the same four categories as above. Entries in this section should either be 6” x 4” or 5” x 7” and need not be mounted. If a new member or visitor presents a mini-print, they may not enter another image in the same category on the night.
Photographs which have previously won an award (Commended or Highly Commended) at a club assessment meeting are not eligible to be entered again at any other assessment meeting. They are, however a prerequisite for entry into the Annual Club Dinner and Awards Presentation Night for the club competition year (October through to September) in which they won their award.
Photographs which have not won any award may be entered again in a subsequent club assessment meeting.
POINT SCORES AND AWARDS
Photos on assessment nights receive the following points:
Set Subject
Highly Commended - 8 points
Commended - 6 points
4 points are awarded for every set subject entry not earning a Commended or Highly Commended.
Open Subject
Highly Commended - 6 points
Commended - 4 points
2 point is awarded for every open subject entry not earning a Commended or Highly Commended
Photograph of the Month: 10 points
These points are awarded in the Mini-Print section as well.
People's Choice Award: Additional 2 points (Set Subject only). Note: Only entries in the Set Subject will be eligible, and they must be handed in by 7.20 pm. Numbered pegs will be placed on each photo. Write the number of the photo of your choice on the back of your 'Lucky Door Prize' raffle ticket.