COUNTRY IMAGES CAMERA CLUB NEWMARKET

          COMPETITION GUIDELINES      September 2007

GENERAL

1. The competitions are intended to be a learning experience for all Club Members, from Amateur to Masters. It is difficult to conduct any type of competition without making it intimidating for first time participants. We have tried to keep the rules and procedures as simple and fair as possible to encourage new members to participate. It takes perseverance to become comfortable with others' commentary of your personal work, but it can be fun and it is an excellent opportunity to advance your skills. And you do not have to agree with everything the judges say.

2. NEW: Five Year Limitation:

In all competitions, all of the original images, i.e. negatives, transparencies and digital files must have been taken after January 1 five year ago from the start of the Club's year. This means that in the 2007/2008 competitions only images taken after January 1, 2002 will be accepted. In the follow-up years this date will change to ensure the 5 years limitation. As it is difficult, in most cases, to determine the original image date, it is up to the members to ensure that this rule is adhered to.

3. NEW: Open and Closed Judging

Most of the judging sessions throughout the year are open to the Club's members. It is a great learning experience to see the entries and to hear the judge's comments and markings. However, the last judging session of the year is not open to the Club's members. The reason is that the results of this judging are revealed at the Club's Banquet where trophies are presented to the winners. Please be assured that even this closed judging is executed in a professional manner by accredited judges.

4. At the beginning of the Club's year four topics will be announced and all entries must adhere to these topics. The topics are usually Photographer's Choice (anything goes), Nature (see the definition of Nature below) and Landscape. The fourth topics will be different from year to year. (See the Club Program or our web site at www.country-images-newmarket.com for this year's subjects.)

5. Each image entered in a competition must be the work of the entrant. Photographs made in workshops, other than workshops sponsored by the Country Images Camera Club, may be rejected from the competition, unless there is significant ownership by the entrant.

6. Generally, there are two Categories that are judged separately: (Projected) Image Competition (comprised of slides and digital images) and Prints.

7. Each member may submit up to 3 slides and up to 3 digital images for a total of 6 images. Additionally, up to 3 prints are allowed in the Print competition. Prints may be colour or black and white, coercially or home procssed.

8. Image and print manipulations, digital or otherwise, are allowed but must be carried out by the entrant.

9. All entries will be pre-screened for adherence to a competition Topic and print size by the Competition Director, and may be withdrawn from the competition if deemed out of Topic or too small or too large.

10. Images submitted in one club competition may not be submitted in subsequent club competitions even from year to year. They can, however be submitted in the inter-club competitions such as the GTCCC annual competition. Also, the same image submitted in the slide or digital competition is not eligible for print competition and vice versa. Please avoid submission of near identical images, even if the originals are on a separate negative, slide or digital. It is impossible to remember and compare minute differences and your work may be rejected.

11. New members are free at the beginning of each club year to compete at a level of their choosing, however once chosen this level must be retained until the requisite number of ribbons, for that level, are earned to move to the next level.

12. Ribbons are awarded in each competition level in Image Competition for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Similarly, 1st, 2nd and 3rd ribbons are awarded in each Print level. Any "Honourable Mentions" (HM) will also receive a 3rd place ribbon. If there is a tie in points awarded at any level or for prints and can't be resolved, it is possible to give 1st or 2nd place ribbon to two or more images. However, the total number of ribbons in the level or for prints should be 3, not counting the "HM" ribbons. Also, the maximum number of ribbons that is awarded at each level depends on the number of entrants at that level. If there is one entrant only, one ribbon for the 1st place will be awarded, for two entrants, two ribbons will be awarded. The exception is in the "Amateur" level, where up to 3 ribbons may be awarded for two entrants.

13. All ribbons count toward your score at each Image Competition level, and to move from one level to the next for the following year's competition, you require the following:

A/ From Amateur to Intermediate - five (5) amateur level ribbons.

B/ From Intermediate to Advanced - ten (10) intermediate level ribbons.

C/ From Advanced to Masters - fifteen (15) advanced level ribbons.

Ribbons are also awarded for prints for each competition. You need 10 ribbons to advance from the Amateur to Advanced print level.

14. All points given by the judges for all entries for each competition year are recorded and totalled. Trophies for "Photographer of the Year" for images are awarded to the individuals with the highest yearly total points at each level. In the Image competition, best 12 entries in both the slides and digital entries will be used to determine the Image maker of the year. The Trophy "Print Photographer of the Year" is awarded to the individual with the highest total print score for that year in each level.

15. Entries should be brought to the meeting previous to the competition; however they may be accepted later at the discretion of the Competitions Director. It is preferable that the Digital Images and the Entry Form are e-mailed to the Competition Director before the submission deadline. Digital Images on CD or other common media are also allowed. Generally, the judging takes place one week before the monthly meeting at 7:30 pm at Old Town Hall. Some judging takes place at the Community Centre, please check the program for the location. Members' attendance at these judging is highly encouraged. It is a good learning experience.

16. All entries must be accompanied by a completed entry form. Slides must be spotted as per the instructions on the front of the form. Please submit a separate Submission form for the slides and for the digital competition, if you are submitting in both categories. 

17. At the next meeting after the judging, all entries are shown and the judges' comments are read, time permitting. The originals of the form with the comments will be returned to the entrants.

18. By submission of your images and prints you are allowing the Club to display low resolution image of your work on the Country Images Camera Club web site. If you disagree with this you must notify the Competition Director before the submission.

19. All care and precautions are used in handling of the submission. However, the Club does not take any responsibility in case that your entry is damaged or lost.

20. Decision of the judges is final.

SLIDES 

1. Generally, only 35 mm slides are accepted. Submission of the "super slides" that are mounted in 2" x 2" mounts is allowed. However, the projected "super slides" are usually vignetted and for this reason do not rate well in judging. All slides must be mounted and must fit an 80 slide Kodak slide tray.

2. Each slide must have the maker name and slide title written on the mount and be marked on the bottom left corner when viewed. (Details are on the entry form.)

3. Slide entries must be submitted in a box or other safe re-usable package that is marked with the entrant's name to ensure their safe return.

DIGITAL IMAGES

Detail on format and submission procedure for Digital Images is in a separate document "Digital Images Submission".

PRINTS

1. The display area of a print (i.e. the area showing through the matt, not the total picture size) must be a minimum of 35 square inches. Note; a 5" X 7" print when matted will be too small as the mats are usually 0.5" smaller.

2. The maximum size of a print, including the mat is generally 20" x 24". Exception is given for prints where larger size is important, such as panoramic prints. Here, the maximum dimension, including the mat, is 40"x 16".

3. All prints must be mounted on a sufficiently thick backing, such as mounting board or foamcore. Prints should also be matted, if possible.

4. Both colour and black and white prints are allowed and are judged together on each level.

5. There is no preference given to wet processed or computer generated images and both can be printed by the entrant or commercially. No commercial (or other person's) image manipulation is allowed as noted in General, Point 6 above.

NATURE DEFINITION

There is always some controversy around what actually constitutes a Nature Photograph, and to some extent you are at the mercy of the judges, but the following is the generally accepted guideline.

Nature photographs are restricted to all things that are WILD. Accepted is any type of wild plant or part of it, insects, fish or animals; land or seascapes, rock, fossils, stars or planets. No subject should show, "the hand of man", i.e. roads, buildings, cultivated plants, domestic animals or man himself. Exceptions to this, (and this is where it can get tricky), could be something such as a wire on which a bird is perched and this item should be a small percentage of the total picture. Interpretative or artful names should NOT be used to label Nature Photographs; please use the common or scientific name. Photographs with an interpretative or pictorial treatment should be submitted in another category

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