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East Grinstead Camera Club Competition Rules

1.COMPETITION ETHOS

It is the intention of the Club to encourage as wide a variety of work as possible, since versatility reflects the skill of the photographer. This aim will be frustrated if entries from individual members become unduly repetitious

2. SUBMISSION OF ENTRIES

All competitions, for both prints and projected digital images (PDIs) have an entry deadline, which is generally that entries must be submitted to the Competition Secretary at least one week prior to the date of the competition. This is the latest date for entry submission, unless otherwise directed by the Competition Secretary. Late entries, past the deadline (revised or otherwise) may not be accepted.

The exception to this rule is with print panel entries, where only the panel entry form is required in advance (see No. 13 – rules referring to panel competitions).

3. CONDITIONS OF IMAGE PRESENTATION

  • All images must be the original work of the entrant, including each element where the image is achieved by combining more than one element. No form of digital clip art is permitted.
  • Images in all sections may be monochrome or colour, and may be trade or home processed, or digitally printed.
  • Images are to have been taken within the previous 3 years of the date of the competition.
    Any image so similar as to be nearly identical to a previously submitted image, may contravene the conditions of entry and may be disallowed.
  • Where an image is disallowed, the Competition Secretary shall inform the entrant as soon as is practicable and allow the image to be replaced, where at all possible.
  • The only instance where very minor modifications to an image will be permitted (at the discretion of the relevant Competition Secretary) is where the image is re-entered between competitions in Groups 1 and 2.

4. CONDITIONS OF ENTRY – GENERAL

Group Competition Rules
Group 1
(Separate A & Development Sections)
Monthly (Open) – round 1^
Monthly (Open) – round 2^
Monthly (Open) – round 3^
Monthly (Open) – round 4^
An image can only be entered once into a Group 1 competition.
It may be entered as either a PDI or a print
Group 2
(Open competitions)
Nature Competition^
Panel Competition^^
Portrait of the Year Competition^
Smartphone Competition^^^^
Set Subject Competition^^^
An image can only be entered once into a Group 2 competition.
It may be entered as either a PDI or a print
Group 3
(Separate A & Development Sections)
PDI of the Year Competition^
Print of the Year Competition^
An image entered for a Group 3 competition, must have been entered during the current competition year (September to May), and in the relevant category i.e. to enter as a PDI, it must have been submitted as a PDI; to enter as a print, it must have been submitted as a print.

An image can only be entered once into a Group 3 competition and this must be the same unmodified image as entered previously in one of the earlier Group 1 or Group 2 competitions in the current competition year.

^ = 2 print images and/or 2 PDIs per round/competition

^^ = Between 3,4,5, or 6 print images and/or between 3,4,5, or 6 PDIs per panel

^^^ = 2 print images and/or 2 PDIs per subject

^^^^ = Up to 3 PDIs

5. CONDITIONS OF ENTRY – PRINTS

Prints must conform to the following requirements for size and mounting to qualify for entry to competitions

  • All entries must be mounted with a suitable adhesive on a card mount that may be of any colour.
  • The mounting and finishing must be the work of the entrant.
  • The size is to be limited to a maximum of 50cm x 40 cm including the mount.

6. PRINT LABELLING

  • All entries must bear, on their reverse side, a competition entry label (obtainable from the Competition Secretary, if required) showing the member’s name and title (printed).
  • If the entrant does not wish the title to be announced it is to be enclosed in brackets and used for identification only and will be announced as ‘no title’.
  • Prints submitted to competitions must be accompanied with a digital file of the image. The image must conform to the same file specifications that the club has adopted for PDI competitions i.e. 1600 x 1200 pixels maximum size, sRGB colour space and saved as a JPEG (or JPG) file. These must be submitted to the Print Competition Secretary with the print.

7. CONDITIONS OF ENTRY – PROJECTED DIGITAL IMAGES (PDIs)

PDIs must conform to the following requirements to qualify for entry to competitions:

  • Where images have been achieved using layers, they must be flattened before submission.
  • The image size must be a maximum of 1600 pixels wide by 1200 pixels high, with a colour space of sRGB and saved as a JPEG (JPG) file. No other format will be accepted.
  • Images are to be uploaded to the appropriate website following the online guidance (e.g. PhotoEntry)
  • In exceptional circumstances, with the agreement or direction of the PDI Competition Secretary, images may be submitted by email, CD or flash drive using the following naming convention: <sequence#><semicolon>+<entrant’s name><semicolon>+<image/title>.jpg. For example: 1;John Doe;Tower Bridge.jpg

8. SCORING – MONTHLY COMPETITIONS

The judge will award marks out of 20 for each entry and the Competition Secretary will keep a record of the marks awarded. In each section the overall winner of the four monthly competitions will be the entrant who has gained the most marks. In the event of a tie the winner will be the entrant with the largest number of entries scoring 20 points, and then 19 points etc.

Monthly competitions will be judged on pictorial considerations only. Should a natural history or record image be entered into a monthly competition, scarcity or remoteness of the subject or any other non-pictorial consideration will not be used to assess the image. Judges will be briefed ahead of each competition.

9. SMARTPHONE PDI COMPETITION

  • The smartphone competition is PDI only.
  • To qualify entries should be taken and edited in-phone. Desktops/laptops may only be used to resize the images for submission via Photoentry. A maximum of four PDIs may be entered.

10. PORTRAIT OF THE YEAR PRINT AND PDI COMPETITION

To qualify for Portrait Print/PDI of the Year competitions the following rule applies:

  • Creatures other than human beings shall not be eligible for entry in these sections.

11. NATURE PRINT AND PDI COMPETITION

The standards set for the Nature competition reflect the Club’s overall approach to nature photography and the post processing of images to retain the ‘integrity’ of the subject matter.

  • Images should depict living, untamed animals and uncultivated plants in a natural habitat, geology and the wide diversity of natural phenomena.
  • Photographs of animals which are domesticated and photographs of cultivated or hybrid plants are ineligible, however wild animals photographed in zoological or safari park settings are permissible.
  • Minimal evidence of humans is acceptable for nature subjects, such as barn owls or storks adapting to an environment modified by humans or natural forces like hurricanes, or tidal waves reclaiming the natural condition. Scientific bands, scientific tags or radio collars on wild animals are permissible.
  • Photographs of man-made hybrid plants, cultivated plants, feral animals, domestic animals or mounted specimens are ineligible.

The Club places particular emphasis on the ‘honesty’ of nature photography. Therefore, any manipulation or modification is limited to minor retouching and this must not alter the truth of the original scene.

  • No techniques that add, relocate, replace or remove pictorial elements, except by cropping, are permitted.
  • Techniques that enhance the presentation of the photograph without changing the nature story or the pictorial content or without altering the content of the original scene, are permitted, including HDR, focus stacking and dodging/burning.
  • Techniques that remove elements added by the camera, such as dust spots, digital noise, and film scratches are allowed. Stitched images are not permitted.
  • All allowed adjustments must appear natural. Colour images can be converted to greyscale monochrome. Infrared images, either direct captures or derivations, are not allowed.

The Club relies on the integrity of entrants to keep within the spirit of the competition (as we do with all competitions). All entries must be properly identified with either the common or scientific name. The scientific name is not a requirement, but ‘twee’ titles are unacceptable.

12. SET SUBJECT PRINT AND PDI COMPETITION

There will be separate competitions for prints and PDIs. In each competition there will be two set subjects and each entrant MUST SUBMIT 2 ENTRIES FOR EACH SUBJECT (four entries in all) to be eligible for entry. The judge will award points out of 20 for each entry and an entrant’s total will be the sum of his/her four scores. The winner will be the entrant with the highest total but in the event of a tie the winner will be the one with the largest number of entries with 20 points, then 19 points, etc.

13. PRINT AND PDI PANEL COMPETITION

Each entry shall consist of a panel of between three to six individual prints or between three to six PDIs (colour or monochrome) illustrating a theme of the entrant’s choice and titled accordingly. Prints and PDIs will not be marked individually but the panel considered by the judge, as a whole entity, and only the panel title will be read out.

Prints will be displayed in two rows if the panel consists of more than three images. Panels of between four and six images should be accompanied by a hanging plan and numbered accordingly. Due to the large number of prints that may be entered in this competition, print entries are to be delivered on the night but competition entry forms (obtained from the Print Competition Secretary) are to be submitted at least one week prior to the date of the competition.

Points will not be awarded and only a winner, second and third will be chosen. If an entrant is submitting panels in both the print and PDI competitions the themes for the two competitions must be different. For example two nature panels are permitted, but they must be different subjects/animals e.g. Lions and Zebras.

Amended July 2023