GENERAL: Each year the Club runs a series of internal competitions which are only open to Club members. These are made up of three print competitions for each class, that is Advanced, Intermediate and Club Class, and three Projected Digital Image (PDI) competitions for each class.  Competitions for Club Class and Intermediate members are held on the same evening.   There is also a PDI of the Year Competition for images previously entered in the PDI competitions, and an annual Print Panel Competition, both of which are open to members in all classes.

In addition, there is a Small Print Competition, previously known as the En Print Competition. This is limited to Club Class only.

None of these are obligatory. However, competitions do give members a chance to display their work and have it assessed by a qualified judge. The judges’ comments can help members to improve their photographic techniques and enhance their abilities to “see” the pictures that surround them.

Any work submitted for Club Competitions and Exhibitions, however produced or printed, must be based on a photographic image made and manipulated solely by the entrant. Similarly, any graphic art incorporated into the image must be the entrant’s own work and must not be a predominant feature of the final image. An entrant may not use any image for which he or she cannot claim the copyright. Text and titles may appear within the image but not the entrant’s name.

The Selection Committee of the Club is made up of advanced members. The Selection Committee will determine which class new members entering competitions for the first time will compete in. This decision will be made by the Selection Committee having viewed six or more prints of the new members’ work.  Members may not enter any Club competitions until their work has been assessed and they have been assigned to a class. The Selection Committee will also make recommendations on the promotion of members from one class to the next at the beginning of each Club year.

Any dispute within a competition will be resolved by the Competition Secretary and the Chair of the Selection Committee. If necessary, the Club Chair will be the final arbiter, whose decision will be final.

Submitting an image for internal competitions permits the Club to reproduce all or part of the image for publication and/or display on the Club’s website to promote the Club’s activities.

The Print Competitions

1) Members entering Print or PDI competitions will compete in one of three classes.

• Club Class (C)
• Intermediate (I)
• Advanced (A).

2) Prints may be black & white or colour, or any combination of these. A print may be chemically, digitally or trade processed but must be the copyright of the entrant.

3) The same image can only be entered once in the internal competitions either as a print or as a PDI. It may not be entered as both a print and a PDI, nor as both colour and mono versions, nor can images be submitted in more than one season.

4) Only three prints may be submitted by an entrant in any one competition. Submitted prints should be consecutively numbered to show the entrant’s preferred sequence of selection since acceptance of all prints submitted cannot be guaranteed if the overall number of entries is too large for meaningful appraisal by the judge.  Entries must be submitted at least 14 days prior to the date of the competition, as shown in the Club’s programme.

5) Each print must show, on the reverse of the mount, the name and class of the entrant as well as the title of the print. ‘Untitled’ or ‘No Title’ is not acceptable as a title.  The title may also appear on the front of the print.

6) Prints will be presented to the judge in random order within each class. The judge will award a mark out of 10 to each image, including half marks. Certificates of Merit are awarded to the images that achieve 9 or more marks.

7) The Annual Award of Trophies for the Print Competitions will be based solely on the total marks achieved in the three competitions. The appropriate trophy will be awarded to the entrant with the highest number of marks in the each class. In the case of a tie the count- back system of scoring will be used i.e. most 10s, then 9.5s, and so on, until there is a clear winner.

8) All entries must be on a standard mount, the size of which is 50cm by 40cm.  Mounts which are 20ins by 16ins are not acceptable due to the requirements of external competitions the Club also takes part in.

9) Entrants must also provide a PDI version of each image. This will not be judged but will be projected on the night of the competition so that the audience may see the image more clearly. The PDI will be submitted in the same format as that used for PDI competitions (see below).

Projected Digital Images (PDI)

1) Entrants may submit up to three PDIs in each competition and up to two for the PDI of the Year competition, chosen by the entrant from submissions made to the season’s previous two rounds. PDIs should be entered in order of preference. This will enable the Competition Secretary to withdraw the least favoured entry from the competition in the event of the overall entry being too large for meaningful appraisal by the judge.

2) The same image can only be entered once in the internal competitions either as a print or as a PDI. It may not be entered as both a Print and a PDI.

3) Image files requirements:

a) The maximum size of the image is currently 1600 pixels horizontal by 1200 pixels vertical, but this is subject to alteration depending on the way in which the image will be viewed and as technologies change.

b) Images must be in JPEG format and at maximum quality but not bigger than 5MB and each file must have a .jpg extension.

c) The working colour space must be sRGB.

d) Images entered with an incorrect working colour space might not project acceptably and it is the entrant’s responsibility to calibrate their monitors and upload images correctly. If the image colour space is incorrect any resulting colour changes are not the responsibility of Competition Secretary or Projectionist.

Advice on resizing an image may be found in the Members area of the website and help is also available from other members of the club.

4) All images are to be uploaded to the appropriate PDI Upload site (details of which will be provided prior to the competition). When uploading it is the responsibility of the entrant to ensure the title of each image is correct. Do not assume the Upload system will guess the correct title from the filename.

5) Entries must be submitted at least 14 days prior to the competition date as shown in the Club programme.

6)  Images will be presented to the Judge in random order within each class. The Judge will award a mark out of 10 to each image including half marks. Certificates of Merit will be awarded to images gaining 9 or more points.

7) The Annual Award of Trophies for PDI Competitions will be based solely on the total points achieved in the three PDI competitions. The appropriate trophy will be awarded to the entrant with the highest number of marks within the class. In case of a tie, the count-back system of scoring will be used i.e. most 10s, then 9.5s, and so on, until there is a clear winner.

8) The PDI of the Year competition is open to entrants from all classes. Each will submit two images which have been previously submitted in earlier PDI competitions for the season in question. These images do not have to have been awarded a credit score. Marks are not awarded in this competition. The judge will select 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd places. The Waddington Cup will be awarded to the entrant in 1^st place.

Digital Upload Site

Images should be uploaded through the appropriate site link at this location Click here for Upload Site

Print Panel Competition

1) A panel will consist of between three and six prints. Each print must be individually mounted. Composite images – that is those made up of different elements combined to create a single image – are acceptable, but multiple images on one mount, however arranged, will not be accepted. For instance, triptychs, any image composed of smaller images in a ‘patchwork’, whether there is space between the component parts or not, will not be accepted in this competition. As a rule of thumb, if the joins show, the resulting image cannot be entered in this competition.

2) Prints may be displayed in 1, 2 or 3 rows in any combination. They should be numbered from left to right, top to bottom (facing stage) and be accompanied by two copies of the hanging plan on separate sheets of paper.

3) The panel should have a ‘theme’ connecting the prints and this theme must be explained in the title. e.g. ‘Images of Chichester’. This “theme statement” should be included with your name on the back of the hanging plan.

4) The size of the mount is as for Club Print Competitions and must be 50cm x 40cm.

5) Each member may submit only one panel.

6) Prints that have already been used in Club Competitions may also be submitted as part of the panel.

7) The panels are to be submitted on the night of the Competition. Each panel must be submitted in a plastic bag together with one copy of the hanging plan. The second hanging plan will be submitted separately and used by the judge for previewing. Panels will be displayed in a random order by selecting a bag and putting the contents on the display stand as guided by the hanging plan.

8) Individual panels will not be given marks, but the Judge will comment on the merits of the panels and will select the 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

9) The Shubotham Cup will be awarded to the entrant judged to be in 1^st place.

The Small Print Competition

The Small Print Competition is intended to give Club Class members who do not have either the facilities or inclination to participate in the “full scale” Print Competitions a chance to match their work against others of like mind. The competition is open to all Club Class in the Print section, apart from previous winners of this competition.  New members should be aware that they need to have been assessed as a Club Class by providing images to be assessed at the start of the year.

1) Any Club Class member, apart from previous winners of the competition, may compete by submitting:

a) Up to three prints in each round, which must be no larger than 7 x 5ins and no smaller than 6 x 4ins

b) Prints can be from film or digital files and may be commercially produced by standard processors (Boots, Jessops, etc) or can be printed by the Club Class

c) Prints must not have been excessively digitally manipulated. Allowable manipulations include minimal cropping and normal colour corrections and levels.

2)  Submitted prints must be un-mounted and have the entrant’s name written on the reverse, together with a suitable title. (Use a self-adhesive label to avoid possible damage to the print.)

3) Except for the winner and the two runners-up in each round, titles will not be shown or used.

4) A series of five monthly heats, starting in October, will be held during the season and judged by one or more of the Selection Committee. A number of prints will be held back from each heat for the final. These will be ranked as 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd in the final.  The winner and first two runners-up are entitled to display their winning images at the Club’s Annual Exhibition (subject to 6, below).

5) The author of the winning image will be awarded the Ada Tyler Cup at the end of the season.

6) The winner and the runners-up are responsible for:

a) Enlarging their images to a suitable size for the Annual Exhibition; the Club will reimburse expenses related to this.

b) Mounting and titling their images in accordance with normal Club practice of 50cm by 40cm mounts, with titles on the reverse.

c) Providing the mounted image to the Exhibition Secretary in good time

7) The Small Print Secretary shall use all reasonable efforts to return prints to entrants when they are no longer required.

8) The winner of the Small Print competition will not be allowed to compete in this competition in future.

9)  If an image has been entered in the Small Print Competition it may not be entered as a Print or PDI in the main competitions until the following season.

The Annual Exhibition

Each year, usually in August, the Club holds an exhibition of work by its members. This exhibition is held in a suitable exhibition space, usually the Assembly Room in North Street, Chichester and is open to the public. All Club members have the opportunity of displaying at least one piece of their work. The exhibition features both prints and PDIs. Exhibition guidance is available on the Club’s website.

1) The maximum number of prints and projected images which may be submitted by each entrant will be determined by the Exhibition Secretary, who will provide submission guidance.

2) Prints must be mounted on a 50cm by 40cm mount.

3) Entry for both prints and PDIs is by the Club’s Upload site, to the maximum size which will be given and to the same specification as the Club internal competitions (see above).

4)  A qualified, external judge will assess all the entries and will award the Club’s Exhibition Trophies

5)   The Selection Committee will determine those entries to be hung at the Exhibition but all members entering will be represented at the Exhibition by at least one print and/or PDI.

6)  An image can only be used once in the Annual Exhibition either as a print or as a PDI. It may not be entered as both a Print and a PDI.

CCC March 2019