Competitions

PLEASE NOTE: All competitions have an Open category in addition to the Theme shown in the competition title.

Please remember to read the image preparation instructions and competition rules (below) before entering, and good luck.

This season’s competitions:

Club rules for all competitions

1. Entries can only be accepted from fully paid-up members who regularly attend club meetings.
   
2. Entries must be the original work of the entrant. Photographs of paintings or illustrations by other people will not be accepted. Composite images (provided all the images used were taken by the photographer) are permitted, as is the use of cloning to remove content in an image entered in the Open category. Images or elements created using Generative AI are not permitted. More guidance on the use of AI can be found on the WCPF website. There are also specific rules for Nature Photography if you would like your image to be considered for external competitions. The current rules can be found on the WCPF website. Nature images entered into the club’s Open competition category do not need to conform to these rules.
   
3. By entering a competition, members grant to the club the right to publish their photographs in the club programme, display them on the club website, and to enter them into external competitions in the name of the club. The copyright to images remains with the photographer.
   
4. 1st, 2nd, 3rd and an appropriate number of Highly Commended and Commended places will be awarded for each competition. The judge’s decision will be final. Images gaining these places will be ineligible for further internal competitions save for the Images of the Year competition.
   
5. The Club will award marks as follows: 1st 10, 2nd 8, 3rd 6, Highly Commended 4 and Commended 2. In addition one mark will be awarded for each non-scoring entry. The marks will be totalled and aggregate trophies awarded appropriately.
   
6. It is your responsibility to make sure images have been received by the submission date.
   
7. With reasonable notice the committee reserves the right to alter any of the competition rules.

Digital Competition Instructions

All Competitions will have a Theme and an Open category.

Unless otherwise announced, you may enter up to a total of 3 digital images per competition – e.g. 2 in the Themed category and 1 in the Open, or any permutation of this.

All entries should be handed to the Digital Competition Secretary on a USB stick, or emailed to them by the Closing date shown in the Programme.

Digital images must be resized to the standard Competition sizes adopted by most professional clubs. So they must be a maximum of 1200 pixels high, by a maximum of 1600 pixels wide. Images can be smaller than this, they do not necessarily have to be rectangular, but to maximise projection space, either their height or width should be 1600 or 1200 pixels. For best colour rendition, the images should be in the sRGB colour space.

Do ask any Member if you need assistance with this.

The images need to be clearly numbered and sent as an attachment to an email which has your Membership Number (available from the Treasurer), the image number, the Category in which that image is to be entered (Theme or Open) and its Title.

All entries received by email will be acknowledged, although not necessarily on the same day that they are received.

Should there be a large number of entries, the Competition Secretary reserves the right to withdraw images if necessary.

Print Competition Instructions

All Competitions will have a Theme and an Open category.

Unless otherwise announced, you may enter up to a total of 3 prints per competition – e.g. 2 in the Themed category and 1 in the Open, or any permutation of this.

All entries should be handed to the Print Competition Secretary by the Closing date shown in the Programme.

All reasonable care will be taken of entries but Taunton Camera Club cannot accept liability for damage to, or loss of, any entry.

Prints should be presented framed in cardboard mounts, of any colour, that measure 50 x 40cm, either portrait or landscape. The prints can be any size up to the size of the mounting board. Do ask any Member in the club for assistance with this if necessary.

The images you’re entering then also need to be given (on a USB stick) or emailed to the Competition Secretary in digital form so that they can be projected on the night of the Competition for all to see clearly, including those on Zoom. These images for projection should be resized to be a maximum of 1200 pixels high, by a maximum of 1600 pixels wide. Again, do ask any Member if you need assistance with this.

The labelling of your images is very important and must be consistent between the print you’re submitting and its corresponding digital image.

The back of the mount board should have your: Membership Number (available from the Treasurer if unsure), the Category in which it’s to be entered (Theme or Open) and its Title. Do not include your name for obvious reasons!

The corresponding digital image should be numbered and attached to an email that contains your membership number, the image’s number, the category and its title.

Do ask if unsure about any of this.

Should there be a large number of entries, the Competition Secretary reserves the right to withdraw images if necessary.

The Triptych Digital Panel Competition Instructions

A tryptich is a set of three images which comprises a body of work. This can either be three separate images which tell a story, illustrate a theme or one single image split into three equal parts either vertically or horizontally.

Normal Club Competition rules apply with the addition of the following:

• Judges will be asked to judge the panels as a whole.

• Hint: try for a uniformity of presentation and theme or subject matter. The value of a tryptich panel is the fact that its strength lies in a connection between each image and that hopefully ‘the whole will be greater than the sum of the parts’.

• A club member may enter up to three panels.

• Each panel must have a title.

• A short descriptive statement or statement of intent can be useful but is not obligatory and panels can be entered without a statement if preferred.

• Each digital image should conform to the normal club competition requirements ie. A maximum of 1600 pixels wide x 1200 pixels high.

• A typical digital panel submission will have 6 slides, numbered to show the order in which they are to be projected.

• The first slide will contain the title of the panel and show the complete triptych of the three images side by side.

• The next slide will be the short descriptive statement or a statement of intent, if you are submitting one.

• The next three slides are of the images themselves which should be numbered sequentially in the order they are to be displayed.

• The final slide will be of the complete panel again.

Image of The Year Competition Rules

Members are allowed to enter up to 2 Prints in the Print of the Year Competition and up to 2 Digital Images in the Digital Image of the Year Competition. You may choose the prints/images you wish to enter but they must have been entered in one of the current season’s league competitions.

If a member has only entered one print or one digital image in all the current season’s league competitions, then he/she may choose another of his/her choice in each category, to add to their entry. 

If a member has not entered any league competitions this current season, then the member may enter up to 2 prints and up to 2 digital images of their choice in the Image of the Year categories.