STOURPORT CAMERA CLUB COMPETITION RULES

January 2025 onwards

 

Competitions

There will be 3 digital competitions each year: These are for both colour and monochrome images.

All images will be scored, by an external judge, out of 20. The total marks of all digital entries for each member across the year will be added               together to determine the overall winner for the year. In the event of a tied score the number of first places will break the tie.

 

There will be 3 print competitions each year: These are for both colour and monochrome images.
All images will be scored, by an external judge, out of 20. The total marks of all print entries from each member across the year will be added together to determine the overall winner for the year. In the event of a tied score the number of first places will break the tie.

 

1. There will be 4 critique nights each year: 2 for digital images and 2 for prints.

       For 2 sessions an external judge will discuss the images but there will be no scoring as the night is not competitive. The judge may indicate their       favourite image(s) at the end of the night.

For the other 2 sessions the critique will be by club members. On a member’s critique night, 3 members - totally anonymously - score the images, out of 20. (If these members have entered the club critique night, the average score of the two other scoring members will be used) These scores will be added up per image on that night (scores will not be announced that night but will be emailed the following day and of course displayed on the board the following week) and added to the total year score.These member judges must be agreed prior to the competition and will be pulled out of a hat.Only members that are willing to do so will be asked to judge and only once per calendar year.

 

1. A number of Rolling Competitions (R.Cs) will be held each year.

These will be for digital images only. MEMBERS ARE RESTRICTED TO ONE ENTRY EACH MONTH. The competition will be judged by member vote. These are themed competitions; the theme will be published in the club programme for that year.

 

1. There will be a contest for a panel of four related dpi images.

Images may be monochrome or colour or mixed. DPIs should be titled and numbered to indicate the required running order. The competition will be judged by member vote.

 

1. There will be a contest a panel of five related images. (Five on one Board)

This contest is for dpi images only. Five related images must be presented as a single dpi. Images may be monochrome or colour or mixed. The competition will be judged by member vote.

 

1. An AV competition.

The maximum duration of the AV is 6 minutes. The competition will be judged by member vote.

 

1. There will be a combined Trevor Brookes Flower & Colin Peters Landscape competition.

The competition, for dpi images only.

1. The dpi of the year will be open to any image that has been entered in a dpi competition; dpi critique night; club critique night; rolling competition; flower or landscape competition.

An external judge will decide 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. Highly Commended and Commended may be awarded at the judge’s discretion.

 

1. The print of the year will be open to any print entered in a print competition, print critique night or club print critique night.

An external judge will decide 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. Highly Commended and Commended may be awarded at the judge’s discretion.

 

1. In addition, there will a number of evenings where members may bring along images to talked about and discussed solely by members. These are non-competitive and their purpose is to enable members to consider how their images are reviewed by other photographers.

 

Presentation of images for competitions.

These rules apply to all club competitions.

• Digital / DPI image

The maximum size of digital images is 1600 px horizontal by 1200 px vertical and in JPEG format, sRGB colour space.

Images should be titled:                            01_Title_Author

            e.g   01_My Best Image_B.N.Mates

 

• Printed images

There are no restrictions on the size of printed image but they must be mounted on a board of size 20” by 16” (500 mm by 400 mm). Commercial printing is allowed provided that the image was not manipulated during the commercial printing process.

Images should be titled on the reverse:

e.g.: My Best Image B.N.Mates

A digital file of the printed image should be sent to the competition secretary.

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Eligibility rules

• There are no restrictions on the age of images entered in club competitions however the author must hold the copyright to all aspects of the image. Only images taken in camera can be used as background or foreground.No layers downloaded, either free or purchased, can be used.Including any background or layers given free with magazines, or a course, either online or in person.We have a good name out there and want to keep it that way.

• Each member may submit a maximum of four images at each event unless otherwise stated in the rules.

• Images should be labelled with numbers one to four. In the event of a large number of entries, and at the sole discretion of the competition secretary, all images numbered four or possibly even three may be omitted.

• All images (either DPI or Print) scoring 18 - 19 - 20 cannot be used again in club competition, apart from DPI/Print of the Year.(They can be used in battles and of course for BPE, FIAP etc) We are a friendly club, and it is not about winning, but taking part and learning.

• All other images can be entered a maximum twice (3x if you include the Print/DPI of the Year).If an image has been altered in any way, as per suggestion by the judge or on a critique night, please add an A to the title, so we know it has been amended once. For the print/dpi of the year, an image has to be entered exactly as per any competition.If an altered image has been judged/critiqued, then that image can be entered in the end of the year competition but has to be shown in an earlier competition/critique evening.Once you have given an image a title, you cannot alter this, apart from adding the “A” in alterations.(Changing titles makes it very confusing for the competition secretaries).

• DPI/Print of the Year can and may include: any image from a club critique night, a judged competition by an outside judge, from the BNM, flower competition, landscape competition, and 4 related images and 5 on a board.From the latter two, of course only 1 image to be used.But they must relate to the year in question.

• Monochrome and colour versions of an image are considered to be the same image. Thus, if a monochrome print is entered into a club critique night it would not be eligible for entry into another club critique night as a colour version.

 

Handing in entries.

Members should submit entries a minimum of one week prior to the competition night. All images must reach Mieke, either on a memory stick (Please ensure that your name is clearly marked on the memory stick) or via email using either email address, by the last Thursday before the competition/ critique in DPI form, both for the DPI and the Print competitions.  All prints should be handed in, to Lesley, the Thursday before the print completion/critique.

 

External Competitions.

The club encourages all members to be active in external competitions including battles with other clubs; inter federation competitions and exhibitions both at home and abroad.

The club hopes that members will allow any image submitted in club competition to be used in inter club competitions to represent the club. Members are encouraged to submit other images which they feel appropriate for potential inter club selection. This would not affect the entry of the image into club competitions and critique nights.

Members retain the copyright to their images and may withdraw any and all images from inter club competitions by informing the appropriate competition secretary.

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Club statement on images generated by Artificial Intelligence.

Stourport Camera Club are committed to the production of images using light capture and processed by the photographer. As such there should be no of technology such as generative fill, there is a big difference between generative fill and contents aware.  If not sure, please ask. In addition, we support the statement by the Royal Photographic Society on the use of AI in the generation of images. We have copied this statement below and acknowledge the RPS as its author.

 

RPS guidelines on the use of AI for members 

1. The RPS remains committed to the principle that photographs should be the original work of the creator(s), so entirely generative images, or images with material elements entirely generated by AI will not be permitted for Distinction submissions, exhibitions and competitions.  What constitutes material in this context is a grey area, and something the RPS will continue to explore with its creative community.  

2. The RPS will continue to accept the use of algorithmic processing in-camera or in post-processing software, which supports digital photography for Distinction submissions, exhibitions and competitions, on the condition that photographers are clear and open where such tools have been used.  The RPS will trust in the integrity of its community but in certain circumstances may request further evidence in the form of RAW files or EXIF data, data, accepting that such evidence may itself not be definitive. 

3. These principles and guidelines are effective for the remainder of 2023 only and do not constitute a final, fixed position; they will evolve as AI capabilities change and understating increases.