BEAULIEU CAMERA GROUP
INTERNAL COMPETITION RULES
(amended for 2008 competition year)
Print & slide competitions will be held throughout the 'competition year', which coincides with the calendar year. There will be several open subject competitions and one set subject competition, also the Print and Slide of the Year Competition. Rules are only amended during a competition year in exceptional circumstances; significant changes are ratified at the December AGM.
Competitions
1 In 2008 there will be four open subject print competitions and two open subject slide competitions. These will be held on different evenings. There will be two occasions when prints and slides will be judged on the same evening; the Set Subject Competition (set subject for 2008: ‘Things Maritime’) and the Print and Slide of the Year Competition. At competitions external judges will discuss and assess entries and give ‘awards of merit’. As a trial, the judge will in addition award marks out of ten at this year’s set subject competition.
Eligibility
2 Entry to competitions is open to all paid up members. Entries must be the work of the entrant, sometimes referred to as the 'author'. Digitally produced entries must be based on original images taken by the entrant using a camera; use of imported images which are not the work of the author is not permitted. Monochrome and colour entries are judged together; there is no differentiation. Similarly, there is no differentiation between work processed commercially and that processed by the entrant, either in a darkroom or digitally. Slides converted from digital images are eligible.
Classes
3 Print competitions will run in three classes: 'primary', 'intermediate' and 'advanced'. Slide competitions will run in two classes: ‘intermediate’ and ‘advanced’. A member may be in one class for prints and another for slides. Where an established member takes up a new medium (prints/slides) then he/she may elect to enter in a ‘lower’ class for the new medium. A new member will not necessarily start in the primary class; the Competition Secretary with at least one other committee member will assess the new member’s entries, and also take into account any track record in other camera clubs, as entry into a higher class may be more appropriate.
Awards of Merit
4 ‘Promotion’ from one class to another depends on the attainment of awards of merit in each medium. 'Awards of Merit', sometimes referred to as 'Seals', will be given to as many pictures as a judge deems worthy of one. The number awarded will vary according to the standard presented and the opinion of the judge on the night.
Movement from ‘Primary’ to ‘Intermediate’ and ‘Intermediate’ to ‘Advanced’
5 In prints movement from primary to intermediate requires a member to attain three awards of merit within two competition years. Movement from intermediate to advanced in prints requires a member to attain four awards of merit within one competition year; from 2008, with fewer slide competitions, movement from intermediate to advanced in slides requires three awards in the year. Having attained the qualifying number of awards the member will enter the next competition in the current year in the higher class.
Voluntary Class Change
6 If a member in the intermediate or advanced classes fails to gain an award of merit within a competition year, then they may voluntarily move down a class in the next competition year in the medium in which no awards were attained.
Subjects
7 Unless otherwise advised there is no set subject. When a set subject competition is held the judge will take adherence to the subject into account. Entries for the set subject competition must be new images, not previously entered in internal Beaulieu Camera Group competitions.
Entries
8. At each competition evening a member may enter a maximum of three prints or three slides – three of each in the case of the ‘Things Maritime’ set subject competition. However, in open subject print competitions only two of the three prints may get judged – see rule 9 below. A print or slide may be entered twice into open subject competitions, unless it is given an award of merit in its first competition in which case it may not be entered again, except to take part in the Print & Slide of the Year Competition. An entry in the set subject competition may be entered again in a subsequent open subject competition provided it did not get a seal at the first showing.
9. If on a particular night there is a higher number of print entries than can reasonably be assessed in the time available then it may be necessary to restrict print entries to two per member. By separating open subject print and slide competitions it is hoped that this will be avoided. However, as a precaution members are required to label their prints “A”, “B” and “C”. “C” labelled entries will be separated out on arrival. Before judging starts a decision will be taken as to whether or not there will be time to include the “C” prints for judging. “C” prints not judged may be entered in later competitions as “A”, “B” or “C”.
Titles
10 All entries must have titles. Titles will be read out as each image is brought before the judge, but expect the image to be judged as an image per se, as if it does not have an explanatory title. To avoid the risk of confusion between different people’s images please do not use over-simple titles e.g. ‘flower’, and use a clearly different title for each of your own images. In the case of prints where the picture is of a place e.g. landscape or building, please either incorporate where it is in the title or write in brackets after the title; this is to help us with print identification and improve labelling at exhibitions.
Prints
11 Prints must be mounted for ease of handling and viewing. Although the minimum picture size for primary workers, excluding mount, is 18cmx12.5cm (7”x5”), a minimum size nearer ‘A4’, say 28cmx19cm is preferred. The maximum permitted size, including mount, is 50cmx40cm. The title of the picture and the entrant's name must be clearly written or labelled on the back of the mount; avoid putting titles in the corners of mounts as this area may be used to stick Velcro for exhibition display. Also, please ensure that backing card is securely taped to the mount.
Slides
12 Slides must be correctly 'spotted' - when viewing the slide ‘the right way up’ the spot must be in the bottom left corner. The title and author’s name must be written on the front of the mount.
Print & Slide of the Year Competition
13 At the end of the competition year all entries that have received an award of merit in the open and set subject competitions will be shown at the 'Print & Slide of the Year Competition'. Entries will be judged in the usual three classes and will be entered in the class in which they originally attained a seal, even if the member has since moved to a higher class. In this competition the winning primary and intermediate images will go forward to be judged again in the next higher class. If the winning primary entry then wins the intermediate class it will go forward again to be judged in the advanced class. Note that it is images which get ‘promoted’ to a higher class in the ‘Print & Slide of the Year Competition’, not the authors.
