Competition Rules 2026
General Rules
It is the responsibility of each entrant to ensure that they read and abide by the Competition Rules set out below.
1. The Judge’s decision is final, and will not be contested, however any entry found not to comply with the Competition Rules will be disqualified and any prizes will be forfeited
2. Images must be entirely the work of the Photographer. Composite images are permitted provided all component images meet this requirement. For the avoidance of doubt, use of images from any other source including, but not limited to, royalty free image banks and clip-art are not permitted.( Nothing within this rule should be interpreted as preventing a member seeking advice or assistance provided that the member then makes the exposure or carries out the advised process themselves)
3. Images may not be generated by AI tools or include elements created by such tools.
4. Each print must be mounted on lightweight board which must not exceed 4 mm in thickness and must be accompanied by a digital file of the image resolution 1600px horizontal by 1200px vertical in sRGB Jpeg format.
- The authors name must not appear anywhere on the print or mount.
- The face of prints/mounts must not show any consistent markings or numbering which would enable a judge to reasonably deduce that prints so marked were all part of a single entry.
- All mounts must be free of Velcro and adhesive tape or anything liable to damage other prints whilst in the transit boxes
5. Projected Images must be 1600px horizontal x 1200px vertical in sRGB Jpeg format. The file name must be The title of the image and must not include the name of the photographer.
6. Images or images so similar as to be nearly identical which have won an award in a club competition are not eligible for entry in club competitions but may be entered in the annual competition provided that they have not been previously entered.
7. Images entered into a previous Annual Competition may not be entered into a future club competition.
8. An image or a very similar image so similar as to be nearly identical may not be entered as a print and projected image in the same competition.
9. By entering the Competition, you grant the Club a non-exclusive, irrevocable licence to reproduce, enlarge, publish or exhibit, on any media throughout the world, any image for any purpose authorised by the Club. This shall include, but is not limited to:
- use in competitions and other events designated by the Club such as L&CPU, ICPA , PAGB etc.
- inclusion in competition catalogues – print & digital versions
- display at any exhibitions ? on a web browser for judging purposes
- on the Club website
- for use in press, promotional and marketing materials – both print & digital
- on social media.
Copyright of each image is retained by its respective photographer
Any member not wishing to grant such a licence or requiring their images so used to be watermarked must advise the committee in writing prior to submitting an entry, and provide the Club with a suitably watermarked image.
10. The Club will exercise all possible care to prevent the loss of, or damage to, prints and images entered for competitions, but does not accept any responsibility for such loss or damage should this unfortunately occur.
11. If a competition has themes or categories it is the entrants responsibility to ensure that any image entered meets the theme or category definition.
12. By entering, the Photographer consents to the retention by the Club of information identifying the Photographer as the creator of an Image.
The Rules and conditions for the Competitions We Organise
Unless otherwise stated in the Competition conditions
Sizes
- There are separate competitions for Prints and Projected Images
- Prints can be any size on any size of mount up to the maximum 500 mm x 400 mm in Club Competitions and President’s Prize
- Prints entered in the Annual Exhibition, Manipulated & Creative Images and Architecture and Record must be mounted on a board measuring 500 mm x 400 mm.
Image Titles
- All images entered, both print and digital are required to have a title
- Judges may or may not refer to the title when assessing the image
- In “Documentary” classes such as Natural History or Record the title should be descriptive rather than “cute” or humorous
Capping
- The total number of images to be judged on any one night will be capped as close as possible to 80
- You must rank your images in Photo Entry ( First Choice 1st )
- If the competition is over subscribed your lowest ranked image(s) will be discarded until we reach the 80 image cap.
- When there is more than one competition or section being judged on one night capping will first of all be applied to any subsidiary competition, and to Projected images before Prints.
- Any images rejected in this way can be entered again in other competitions and to be fair, members who have not entered the maximum number will escape capping until the cap falls below the number they have entered.
Club Competitions
- Category normally OPEN but may have special rules which will be given to entrants as required
- There are usually separate sections for prints and projected images but there may be exceptions
- In each Print competition you may enter up to 4 Prints.
- In each Projected Image competition you may enter up to 4 Digital images.
President’s Prize
- This competition is in 2 sections, “OPEN” and a “THEME” chosen by the President.
- An entry consists of 4 images 2 in each section
- Images will be scored out of 20, resulting in a possible score of 80.
- The winner will be the entrant with the highest total score, in the event of a tie, the highest scoring image from the tying entrants will win the prize, should it still be a tie, then the judge will chose from those highest scoring images
Photo-Journalism
BOB LOYNDS TROPHY
- Each member can enter one portfolio of no less than 6 and no more than 8 images which together could illustrate a Magazine or Newspaper article. Plus an extra introductory image containing a short text of no more than 100 words outlining the theme chosen, this can include a background image if the author chooses.
- They need not be sport or hard news but could be from a “Lifestyle” title ie Cookery, Wildlife or anything from the wide range of titles available at a newsagents.
- The entry must have a narrative or story with a clear structure, an introduction, middle, and conclusion. Therefore images that are simply illustrations, for example like in a catalogue, which do not have a narrative theme are not permitted.
- This is not a panel competition so no weight is given to the visual cohesiveness of the images when viewed together.
- The entry will be judged as a set projected sequentially in the order the entrant choses in Photo Entry. The sequence is therefore important.
- Marks will be awarded based firstly upon how well the set of images convey the narrative chosen and then by the quality of the individual images.
- Images other than the introduction must not contain added text.
Photographer Of The Year
- Points will be allocated to successful entrants in the following competitions:
- Any Club Competition
- The Annual Competition
- Presidents Prize
- The Bob Loynds Trophy
- PhotoEntry will rank members on the basis of the marks scored by their best images in each competition with their best 20 scores to count. The member who is 1st in the league table will be awarded the title of Photographer Of The Year.
THE ANNUAL COMPETITION
- The Annual Competition is divided into several sections. You may enter as many sections as you wish but an image or an Image so similar as to be nearly identical, may only be entered in one section.
- The number of images you may enter for each category may be varied each year by the committee and will be show in PhotoEntry. You must rank both Prints and Digital Images in order, because it is expected that some categories will be over subscribed and lower ranked images discarded.
- There is an overall cap on the number of images a member can enter into the Annual Competition, this will be assessed annually by the committee. In 2026 this will be 14 prints and 16 Projected Images, PhotoEntry will prevent further entries once the limit is reached.
- Prints must be mounted on card measuring 500mm x 400mm and bear on the back of the mount, in the top left hand corner, The title of the print, the category and the member’s class (advanced or beginner)
- To reflect practice in National events the 3 Main Sections are Open Colour, Monochrome and Natural History and the criteria to be adopted are those used by the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain. The definitions are stated below but the PAGB wording takes precedence if there is a difference.
- The remaining sections are for Genre Photography which can only fairly be judged against images of the same genre, and our definitions apply.
Sections in the Annual Exhibition
OPEN COLOUR
William Blackshaw Cup (Prints) & Gail Ashworth Trophy (Projected Image)
Beginners Cup (Prints) & Beginners Trophy (Projected Image)
MONOCHROME
Phocus Trophy (Prints) Henry Neville Trophy (Projected Image )
NATURAL HISTORY
Cicely Cup (Prints) & Norman Ashworth Trophy (Projected Image )
PEOPLE
Edith Charnock Trophy (Prints) & Elizabeth Ashworth Rose Bowl (Projected Image)
LANDSCAPE
Chasing the Light Trophy (Prints) & Louie Balme Trophy (Projected Image)
LOCAL THEME (Prints only)
Winsor Cup (Advanced) & Rosenberg Cup (Beginners)
ARCHITECTURE
W E Balme Trophy (Prints) & Ernest A. Jepson Cup (Projected Image)
JUDGE’S PRIZES
The Judge(s) will award the following additional prizes:
- The Stanworth Shield – for the Best Print in the exhibition
- The Dobson Cup – for the Best Projected image in the exhibition
Category Definitions
Open Colour & Beginners Cup & Trophy
The category is open. Images of any kind or subject excluding Monochrome are acceptable.
Monochrome
A black and white work fitting from the very dark grey (black) to the very clear grey (white) is a monochrome work with the various shades of grey. A black and white work toned entirely in a single colour will remain a monochrome work able to stand in the monochrome category. On the other hand a black and white work modified by a partial toning or by the addition of one colour becomes a colour work (polychrome) to stand in the colour category.
Natural History
(Please read the definition carefully. Domestic animals ie pets, farm animals, mounted specimens and cultivated and hybrid plants are not permitted )
Nature means Images where living organisms are the primary subject matter. The story telling value of an Image will normally be weighed more than the pictorial quality.
Nature includes:
Images taken with subjects in controlled conditions such as zoos, game parks, botanic gardens, aquariums and enclosures where the subjects are dependent on man for food. Scientific bands, tags or collars are permissible.
Nature excludes:
Images where the subjects are obviously domestic animals or plants.
Images where an obviously artistic treatment has been applied. However, processing of the captured image, by cropping, exposure adjustment, colour correction, noise minimisation, dodging/burning, HDR, focus stacking and sharpening, is permitted, as is cloning of image defects and minor distractions including overlapping elements.
An Image appearing to meet these criteria will be accepted as Nature.
The Judges will normally assume that any Image presented to them is eligible. Access to some biological subjects may be restricted. Where that is relevant, then Photographers warrant that they have followed relevant codes of practices and hold any necessary licences.
See also the Royal Photographic Society’s Nature Photographers’ Code of Practice, which is neatly summarised as “There is one hard and fast rule, whose spirit must be observed at all times. The welfare of the subject is more important than the photograph.”
People
Photographs where the primary subject is a person or persons.
Landscape
We take a broad view of what constitutes a landscape but to maintain the integrity of the subject matter will adopt the criteria of the Landscape Photographer of the Year Competition in respect of manipulation
The integrity of the subject must be maintained and the making of physical changes to the landscape is not permitted. You may not, for example, remove fences, move trees or strip in the sky from another image. Digital adjustments including dodging & burning, changes to tone & contrast and cropping are allowed, as are High Dynamic Range imaging techniques, stitched panoramas and focus stacking. We reserve the right to disqualify any image that we feel lacks authenticity due to over-manipulation.
ARCHITECTURE
Any image of a building, architectural feature or the built environment. This will include the interiors of buildings. The word building applies to any man made feature including houses, churches, bridges, roads etc.
Local Theme
This is a competition for prints only. Images entered should document the area and its inhabitants close to the authors home.
BREACHES OF RULES AND APPEALS
If any member becomes aware of a breach or potential breach of the rules they must bring it to the attention of the committee without delay.
If this occurs after the judging of the competition the club must within 14 days convene a special committee meeting to adjudicate the matter. The member(s) potentially affected may attend the meeting and have the right to speak and present evidence but do not have the right to vote.
If any member wishes to appeal a decision of the committee they must do so in writing within 14 days of being advised of the decision they wish to appeal. The club must within 14 days convene a special committee meeting to adjudicate the matter. The member(s) appealing may attend the meeting and have the right to speak and present evidence but do not have the right to vote.