WAKEFIELD CAMERA CLUB - COMPETITION RULES

(Amended January 2010)

1.            No member may enter any Club competition unless they have paid their annual subscription.

2.            All prints submitted in all Club competitions must display title, the competition entered (e.g. June Open Comp) and the entrant’s membership number (complete with the suffix ‘N’ if the author wishes to be considered a Novice – see Rule 3). Use Club Competition labels. Prints must be Mounted up to a maximum size of 20” by 16” ( 500mm by 400mm)

Prints should display this information on their reverse side, with no information on the front.

         Digital images should contain this information as part of the file name, be in JPEG or TIFF format and the digital file should be of the highest quality possible (300 DPI would be ideal). Files should be sized to give a maximum height of 768 pixels and/or a width of 1024 pixels (if you have problems with this please ask for help). The file name must begin with the membership number, then the ‘N’ suffix if appropriate to denote novice followed by the competition and title.  

Example: The file name for a image entitled Summer Day for a member with a membership number of 399 would read ‘399 Summer Day June 2010 Open

If that member was a novice the file name would read ‘399N Summer Day June 2010 Open

3.            A novice is defined as any member who considers themselves to be a novice. This should be declared before the year’s competitions commence or prior to the first competition entered.

4.            All Images submitted to any of the Club’s competitions must have been photographed by the entrant. Third party processing is allowed but any manipulation of images must be the work of the author.

5.            The repeated use of an image which has been placed during any previous competition is not allowed except in the case of Annual Competitions. Unplaced images may be used subsequent years.

6.           Identical digital images and prints shall be considered to be the same image, unless substantially modified.

7.            Members shall at all times have control over the use of their property. Copies of winning images may be requested for the Club website and images may be sought for use by the Club in YPU or Inter-Club competitions, but Members have the right to refuse any such request.

8.            All submissions must be given to the Competition Secretary at least two weeks before the date of that competition with the exception of the Un-mounted A4 competitions.

9.            The Competition Secretary (or his/her delegate) is empowered to decide eligibility and reject entries that do not conform to the club’s competition rules.

10.        The Competition Schedule shall be as follows:-

3 Open and 2 themed Competitions (Print and Digital)

Marks from the above competitions shall count towards a yearly Clubman Competition. The aim of the Clubman Competition is to encourage and reward consistency.

In addition to the above competitions

1 Annual Open, and Applied Competition (Print)

1 Annual Open and Applied Competition ( Digital)

1 Audio Visual Competition

Informal Un-mounted print competitions will be held throughout the year as declared in the syllabus. These competitions will be judged internally by members.

11. A Judge will be appointed by the Competition Secretary, to judge the 3 Open, 2 themed, 2 Annual and the Audio Visual Competitions. The Judge will be invited to mark each image, or presentation, out of 20 marks, select 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd places and offer constructive comments.  The Judge may award Commended or Highly Commended classification to not more than 2 images in each class (Print and Digital).

12.        For any Open, themed, and Annual competitions, up to 4 images (including both print and digital) may be submitted by each entrant. Not more than 3 of the 4 images may be submitted in either print or digital form. The First Placed entrant will receive an Award. The three top placed images and the highest placed Novice will each be awarded a certificate at the Annual Awards evening. In the event that a novice is one of the placed positions, just one certificate will be presented.

13. For Applied Competitions all images shall comply with the following definitions:-

Architectural and Record Any building or inanimate object presented in an objective way without artistic interpretation or manipulation by the photographer. The subject will normally fill the full frame. Appropriate lighting may be used to enhance the subject but should not add pictorial content.  Entries should be accurately titled.  

Natural History Depicts untamed animals and uncultivated plants in a natural habitat and all natural phenomena. The accurate record of the subject and natural environment is the prime factor. Evidence of man, his manipulation of his environment in any part of the picture is undesirable and should be avoided. After satisfying the above requirements every effort should be made to use the highest level of artistic skill in all nature photographs. Photographs of cultivated plants, floral arrangements, domestic and caged animals, mounted specimens, museum groups or man and his specialised environment are NOT acceptable. Entries should be accurately titled.

15. For any Audio Visual Competition, one submission no longer than 5 minutes in length may be submitted by each entrant. The presentation may be of any subject. The presentation should run in a program already loaded to the club computer or carry its own auto-run program. The presentation may be of any subject. The winning presentation will receive an award. The three top placed presentations and the highest placed Novice will each be awarded a certificate at the Annual awards evening. In the event that a novice is one of the placed positions, just one certificate will be presented.

16. The Clubman Competition will be run throughout the year. The aim is to promote and reward consistency. Marks for the competition are obtained from the 3 Open, and 2 themed Competitions. The highest mark obtained by a member for entry in the print category of each competition shall be aggregated and combined with the highest aggregated marks for the digital category of the competitions. The highest combined mark will be the winner of the Clubman Award.

In addition to the Clubman Award, an award for Best Print Worker will be made to the member with the highest aggregate marks in the print category and an award for the Best Digital Image Worker with the highest aggregate marks in the digital image category from the 3 Open, and 2 themed Competitions.