Information & Rules

2020 Competition Secretary's Report from AGM

Club Competition

2020 Information & Rules

Margaret Harris

Entering competitions is all part of the involvement and fun of being a camera club member!

The club has two regular competitions: the Club Competitions and the monthly Copyart competition.

Club Competitions

There are five competition rounds during the year (see competition calendar on right): four are ‘Open’ Subject and one is 'Natural History'
‘Open’ means that the photograph may be of any subject.
'Natural History' is as defined by PSNZ and includes the relevant 'Ethics & Code of Conduct'.
You may submit a maximum of 2 prints and 2 projected images, up to 4 entries in total for each competition round (NB not 3 projected and 1 print).
Those entering prints must also supply a digital file of the print for viewing at Club Night.
You may not enter identical or almost identical images (at competition secretary’s discretion) in both the print section and the projected image section.
The entries in the club competition are either sent away to judges who are recognized for their photographic or artistic ability, or judged by senior club members.

Competition Grades

A’ Grade – This is intended for experienced photographers. It is a full competition level with points and an overall year prize.
‘B’ Grade – This is a good entry point for photographers who have no previous competition experience. This grade normally receives a more lenient judging with points and an overall year prize.
‘B’ grade photographers may be required by the committee to move to the ‘A’ grade and at the discretion of the committee, points may be transferred. The yearly winner of the ‘B’ grade automatically moves to the ‘A’ grade.
A member with Honours distinctions (e.g. LPSNZ, APSNZ, FPSNZ) should compete in the ‘A’ grade.
A member who gains Honours or medals in external PSNZ competitions should also compete in the ‘A grade.

Brian Dowling

Submitting entries

Submit your entries using the online entry form
Entries will only be accepted within a fortnight of the closing date.
Where possible print entries should be submitted on the closing date at the club meeting
Click here for a list of definitions including what “Natural History” entails.
You will receive confirmation of your entries when you submit them.
Entries must reach the Competition Secretary by club night. They are then sent to the judge for critiquing and returned in time for the following month’s meeting. Here they are displayed and the judge’s comments on each entry are presented.
Entries are awarded either No award, Acceptance, Merit or Honours
Unless an entrant achieves a Merit or Honours, the name of the photographer is not announced.

Points system
Entry in competitions gain:

No award 0 points
Acceptance 3 points
Merit 5 points
Honours 8 points

The points that are scored are accumulated over the year to decide the overall winner of the “most points” trophies.
From 2020 the A grade points winner will be the combined total from both print and digital entries.
If, at the end of the year, two or more members are tied with the same number of points, the winner is the member with the most Honours. Where there is still a tie, the number of Merits will decide.

Prints

All prints must be mounted on either a stiff piece of card or a proprietary foam backing board. In addition, if you wish, you may add the protection of a cardboard mat around your print. (Mounting board and mat board can be obtained from picture framers.)
The mounting board (with mat if one is used) must not exceed 16”x 20” (40.5 x 51 cm.)
The size of the mounting board (incl. mat) must not be smaller than 6” x 8” (15×20 cm.) There is no minimum size for the actual print.
The print itself should not be covered with anything – no glass or plastic.
Write the title of your image and the grade (‘A’ or ‘B’) on the back, at the top of your print entry, but DO NOT put your name on entries.
Remove any old labels, names and numbers that are not relevant to this competition. (A good way to label prints is to use ‘magic’ or ‘scotch’ tape.

Competition

Calendar 2022

Competition 1

Open competition
Entries close 28th March 2022
Results 25th April 2022 [TBC]
Judge:

Competition 2

Open competition
Entries close 9th May 2022
Results - 13th June 2022
Judge:

Competition 3:

Nature competition
Entries close 13th June 2022
Results 11th July 2022
Judge:

Competition 4

Open Competition
Entries close 11th July 2022
Results - 8th August 2022
Judge:

Competition 5

Open
Entries close 8th August 2022
Results 12th Sept 2022
Judge:

Submitting your print entries.

Complete the online entry and bring your prints along to club night and place them into the collection box.
Place some form of protective wrapping around your prints to avoid damage, though this will be removed and entries repacked when they are sent to the judge.
You can retrieve your prints and packaging when you collect your entries after judging.
Your entries are handled by the competition secretary while they are being catalogued, then by the judge, and yet again by the competition secretary when they are displayed with the judge’s comments, so make sure your prints don’t fall apart.
Remember too that the entries are couriered in a purpose-built, hard-sided case.
Please note that the club cannot be held responsible for any damage or loss of competition entries.
The club has a policy on ownership of images which extends to the judge, which stipulates that your images may not be reproduced or distributed in any way, without your permission. The exceptions are our website, the club newsletter, and interclub competitions
Read NCC's policy on ownership of images.

Projected Images

Digitally Projected images should be no more than 1620 pixels in width and 1080 pixels in height and must be in .jpg format. Files should be named but the name cannot exceed 40 characters (including spaces and punctuation.)

So.....now you’ve got your entries back and the judge loved them. Congratulations!

You may wish to enter them in inter-club competitions or external competitions, but sorry – once your entries have received ‘Merit’ or ‘Honours’ you cannot enter them again in a NCC club competition.
If your entry gets a ‘No award’ or when it’s ‘Accepted’, but you think it deserves better you are free to enter it again. This also allows you to make changes as suggested by the judge and see if that works. Who knows, a different judge, a different point of view and you may get a much better result!

End of Year Awards

There are 11 trophies/awards made at the end of the year:-
- Champion Image
- Best Open All grades digital and print
- Best Monochrome All grades digital and print
- Best Portrait All grades digital and print
- Best Landscape All grades digital and print
- Best Natural history All grades digital and print
- Photographer of the year ( club, local , national and international competitions)
- Most points in club competitions :-
  - A Grade sum of digital and print
  - B Grade digital
  - B Grade print
- Most improved photographer ( at discretion of committee)
Images receiving honours and merits in the clubs competitions, unless opted out on the entry form, will automatically be included into the relevant categories in the end of year competitions.

Note:

Eligible prints will need to be resubmitted at the October meeting.
Projected images will automatically be entered as the competition secretary will have these on file.
Trophy winners will be announced at the AGM in November.

“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.”
— Marc Riboud

All images on this site are copyright of the owners and must not be copied or reproduced in any way without the owners express permission.

Club Competition

2020 ​Information & Rules

Competition

Calendar 2022

N e l s o n C a m e r a C l u b

2020 Information & Rules