Competition Rules

1 – Competitions are open to all paid-up members of the Society. The £25 annual membership fee is payable at the start of the winter season to The Treasurer.

2 – All photographs must be the entrant’s own work, including any digital or darkroom manipulation. Prints may be trade or home-processed/printed, from digital or film. All parts of a digital montage must be taken by the entrant.

3 – Monthly Competition:

  • Each of the regular competitions (usually six per season) will be divided into two sections (print/ digital); each section being an individual competition with its own individual annual trophy.
  • Maximum three entries in each section (i.e. three prints and three digital unless stated).
  • The same image may not be entered in more than one section in the same monthly competition but may be entered in other monthly competitions provided the image has not placed in the top three positions in either section.
  • The image may be used again if manipulated in such a way as to create an image that is acceptably different from its original e.g. not just converted to monochrome/sepia.
  • The top three (“placed”) images in each competition (or more if scores are tied) may not be re-entered into another competition except the Image of the Year competition.

3a. Prints – Titles and entrant’s membership number should be written on the reverse, (use a quick-drying felt-tip type pen to avoid damage to the print and marking other entries). Orientation notes may be added if not obvious e.g. “This way up”. Prints may be any size up to a maximum of 40cm x 50cm and may be mounted or un-mounted up to A4. Prints larger than A4 should be mounted to aid their display.
Entries to be delivered to the Competitions Secretary (address supplied to members) before 6pm on the Sunday ten days prior to the competition.
The digital file of each print must also be submitted using the same naming format as for Digital entries (see below) but including the word ‘Print’ in the title.

3b. Digital – Digital images must be filed using the following format:-
entry number title membership number e.g. 1 flower 123, 2 landscape 123, 3 green duck 123 (assumes that the entrant has been allocated a membership number of 123).
Use spaces in the file name, not dashes or underscores.
Images should be in .JPG format and resized to 1600 pixels wide x 1200 pixels high. If your image is less than these pixel dimensions (e.g. it is a square format) then any blank space around the image should be filled with black.
Entries to be e-mailed to the Competitions Secretary before 6pm on the Sunday ten days prior to the competition. Please make the effort to resize and rename your entries correctly as this saves the Competitions Secretary a lot of time and effort.
Email address for entries: comps@southernphotographicsociety.org

4 – All monthly competition entries will be allocated a mark out of 20 by the competition judge; points are totalled at the end of the season to determine the winners of the various annual trophies.

5 – The Mike Goldie Trophy – This is a standalone annual competition. The winning photographer will choose the theme for and will judge the following year’s competition. Digital only; bring a maximum of three entries on the night on a USB drive. This is a “fun” competition and winning entries may be used again in other competitions.

6 – Digital Art – This is a standalone competition for members who may wish to produce more “arty” digital images, and has its own annual trophy. Images should be named and sized as per regular digital entries and sent to the usual e-mail address.

7 – Print and Digital Image of the Year Competitions:

  • These are standalone competitions at the end of the season, for images which have been entered in an internal club competition during the current season, including the Mike Goldie Trophy and Digital Art.
  • Maximum of three entries per section (Print/Digital).
  • These are OPEN competitions and may include photographs that have gained positions in previous competitions.
  • The same image should not be entered in more than one section.
  • Members are required to have submitted images in each section for which they are entering, to at least 50% of the regular internal club competitions during that season (normally 3 out of 6, pro-rata for new members, excluding Digital Art and Mike Goldie).
  • The winning Print Image of the Year and winning Digital Image of the Year go forward to compete for the overall Image of the Year as selected by the judge.

8 – All Competitions

  • Any entry which is considered not to comply with the Rules as stated may be queried by the Competition Secretary and/or disqualified.
  • Original digital files may be requested. Failure to submit an original file if requested may result in exclusion of the image entry from the competition.
  • It is the responsibility of each member to follow these rules and to keep a record of entries and placed images to avoid disqualification and the resulting loss of points.

August 2023

Competitions Overview