SCPF Print & PDI Championships

On Sunday 22nd March, Winchester Photographic Society hosted the 2026 SCPF Print & PDI Championships at Littleton. The format of this competition is the familiar one we see at large events, with three judges each giving a score between 2 and 5 for each image, whether that is prints or PDIs. The three marks are then added up to give the total score for that image, which will range from 6 to 15.

Unlike our club competitions, there is no critique, no discussion between the judges, just a mark. The judges arrive at their decisions very quickly and as soon as an image has been marked, they move on to the next one. Typically, each image is displayed for less than ten seconds unless a judge wants a closer look at the print or to have it tilted forward to remove a distracting reflection from glossy paper, etc.

This competition had PAGB patronage which meant that in each category there was a PAGB Gold medal for the best image plus three PAGB Silver medals (one awarded per judge) plus a number of Highly Commended awards.

The three judges at this event were:

• Edward Hyde FRPS (SPA)
• Sandie Cox EFIAP ARPS DPAGB (WCPF)
• Ralph Snook EFIAP/s ARPS DPAGB (WCPF)

In the morning, the three judges had to score a total of 600 PDIs from 41 clubs. They then had to look through the highest scoring images to allocate the medals and Highly Commended awards.

When all the marks had been added up it was clearly very close at the top, Chichester were in third place with 179, Winchester were in second place with 181 and Newbury were the winners with 182. This year, the top three clubs will be invited to represent the SCPF at the national PAGB Inter-Club PDI Championship which takes place in Warwick in July so we will be taking part.

We had three PDIs that scored 14 – “Polar Bears at Play” by Julia Wainwright, “Goshawk Confrontation” by Ian Roberts and “Bee Eaters Passing Bee” by Ann McDonald and it was Julia’s PDI that the three judges chose for a Highly Commended award.

After the lunch break, we were treated to 299 prints from 22 clubs, which the judges scored in the same way. High scoring prints were put onto the print stands at the side of the hall and when the judges had finished marking all the prints they gathered around the print stands for their deliberations about which prints would get the awards.

Once again, it was close at the top, but unfortunately Chichester was beaten into fourth place by Yateley following a countback, with both of us on 178 but Yateley having one print that scored 15. New Forest were in second place with 182 and Winchester were the winners with 183. As with the PDIs, the top three clubs will be invited to represent the SCPF at the national PAGB Inter-Club Print Championship which takes place at a new venue in Newport, Stafford in October so sadly we just missed out on that this year.

We had two prints that scored 14 – “Lion Startled by Hippo” by Ian Roberts and “Grasstrack Sidecar Racers” by Jim Munday, backed up by another four prints that scored 13, but we received no awards in the print section.

April’s SCPF Newsletter has a full report of the event with club positions and photos from the day and that can be found here.

The featured image above is Polar Bears at Play © Julia Wainwright which received a Highly Commended award in the PDI section.