All members are encouraged to enter competitions, whatever their level of experience. New members may find the idea daunting but competitions are an excellent way to improve your image-making.
Constructive feedback from experienced visiting judges is often very useful and it can boost your learning process to see your work on display and being discussed. Competitions are also a good incentive to keep working on your style, technique and new ideas but if you decide not to take part that’s fine; you can learn a lot just by looking at other members’ images and hearing the judge’s comments.
The current schedule comprises six regular competitions during the season – three with a set subject and three ‘open’ competitions with no set theme – and the scores from those are totalled at the end of the season.
Each of those six regular competitions has a Print and a DPI (Digital Projected Image) section and you may enter up to three images in each.
There are also two standalone competitions during the season – ‘The Mike Goldie Trophy’ and ‘Digital Art’ – which have their own trophies.
The season’s finale is the ‘Image of the Year’ competition, for which members may re-submit a maximum of three digital and three print entries that were previously entered into that season’s competitions.
The set themes for 2026-2027 (in order) are:
Back Alleys
Reflections
Sport
The theme for the 2026 Mike Goldie Trophy, as selected by 2025 winner Seamus Whelan, is ‘Windows and/or Doors’. Bring up to three entries on a USB stick to the first meeting in September 2026.
For those who like to plan well ahead, the set themes for 2027-2028 are:
“Street/People”
“After the Rain”
“Silhouette”