Competitions

‘General Rules’ apply to all competitions. ‘Specific Rules’ apply to individual competitions, and may take precedence over the General Rules.

General Rules -

1. Entrants must be members of the NWBCC on the day of judging.

2. Original photographs must have been captured by the entrant, who must own the copyright .

3. Any image manipulation must be carried out by the entrant.

4. The entrant must own and be the creator of all photographic elements in images that are being assessed.  Images or image elements created using Generative AI are not permitted. This is too complex an issue for detail here: see the WCPF Competition Rules [https://www.thewcpf.com/general-competition-rules].

General Rules - Prints 

We did not submit physical prints during Covid restrictions, but prints were judged virtually, as if projected (at 1600 x 1200: see below).  We are now submitting physical prints again. If, for whatever reason, we have to abandon physical prints in the future, please note that any changes to the print images to make them suitable for digital projection, eg, image resizing or lightening, should be done after final processing of the print image. The amended image should then be saved as a separate image for projection.

1. A print may be made from a film or digital original. Once all image manipulation has been done by the entrant final printing may be done by a third party.

2. Monochrome means grey-scale: an image may be fully toned in a single colour. If any colour other than the toning is present, or if the image is only partially toned, then the image is classed as a colour image.

3. Prints must be mounted but not framed. The maximum size of the mount is 40cm x 50cm and this is the optimal size. There is no restriction on the image size within the mount. There must be no residue from tape or adhesives that might damage other entries. See the Recommendations section below.

4. Any number of images contained within one mount will count as a single submission for judging as a single item.

5. The title but not your name must be on the back of the mount, preferably bottom right. If any confusion is possible, mark ‘this way up’.

6. A digital version of each print must  be supplied to the Competition Secretary before the competition is judged. The image should conform to the image size specified below. Failure to supply the digital version may result in the print being excluded from the competition.

General Rules - Projected Images

1. Images should be sized to a maximum of 1600 pixels horizontally and 1200 pixels vertically (ie, a portrait format cannot exceed 1200 pixels in height), and be supplied as JPEGs. See the Recommendations section below.

2. Images can be given to the Competition Secretary  via e-mail, on-line, or on a USB stick. The timing required for submitting entries is specified against the specific competition rules.

Specific Rules -

• The Annual Club Competition -

There used to be trophies (cups) awarded in the annual competition but these were discontinued in 2020. First, the COVID epidemic made physically moving the cups around difficult, but also the cups' name panels were filling up, the cups were getting damaged, and the categories of image were changing. Printed certificates are now awarded instead, for the appropriate categories as competed for in the year. For the record, these were the trophies:

The Peter Ruck cup for black and white prints; The Millennium cup for colour prints; The Les Coles cup for digital images; The Derek Kay novices cup for prints; The Eddie Mansfield novices cup for digital images; The Colin Evans cup for Print of the Year; The Wood cup for best projected image.

• The Annual Club Competition -

  1. The competition 'year' runs from September to June: 'year' below refers to that period.

  2. Has three categories  - Open prints (colour or mono); Projected images on a broad theme (for 2025-6 these will be Natural World, Landscape, and Urban); Open projected images -  judged individually over three Rounds. Other possible broad themes are Mono and People. The selection of themes for 2026-7 will be made before the start of the competition year.

  3. 'Open' means any theme or image, including the broad theme for projected image being used in that Round. Although one of the broad themes can be mono, there is no restriction on mono images being entered in other categories.

  4. The maximum number of images that a member can submit in each category is three, but may have to be reduced to ensure a reasonable number of images in an evening (between 60 and 80). For 2025-6, members may submit up to two print images, and up to four projected images, with a maximum of two in any one category.

  5. The Competition Secretary has the right to reduce the number of submissions per member in accord with Rule 4. The competition secretary will always try to ask members about the need to withdraw images, but otherwise will use their own judgement: because of this, members are advised to give an order of preference to their submissions. 

  6. All submissions must have been captured within three years of submission, ie, an image submitted in 2025-6 must have been captured in 2023 or later. The purpose of this rule is to encourage members to produce new work. For creative images, the bulk of the creative work must have been done within the same limits; the times of capture of individual elements are not relevant.

  7. Submissions are normally required three weeks before judging (this has been changed from two weeks for 2025-6), ie, at the Club meeting three weeks before the Round. If images are sent by e-mail, they should be sent a day or two before that meeting.

  8. An image that has previously been placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Highly Commended or Commended in any previous Annual Club Competition Round cannot be re-submitted to the Annual Competition. This includes modified versions of any placed image, such as a mono conversion of a previous colour image. As an extension of this, the same, or very similar, images cannot be submitted in more than one category of the same Round. The competition secretary will always discuss eligibility with the entrant.

  9. Judging will be by an independent accredited judge, and a different judge will be used for each Round.

  10. Judges are asked to select 1st, 2nd and 3rd places; and a number of highly commended or commended (in any combination), depending on the total number of images in that category: the Competition Secretary will advise the judge. Images will accrue points according to their places. Non-placed images do not score.  For 2025-26, the scoring system will be 12 for 1st, 10 for 2nd, 8 for 3rd, 7 for highly commended, and 6 for commended. This can be amended if necessary, if there is obvious injustice in the final rankings (as in Rule 11). 

  11. In each category, the member with the highest total of points accumulated across all three Rounds at the end of the competition year will be awarded the appropriate certificate. A further overall certificate will be awarded to the member with the highest total of points when those gained in the Panel Competition (see below) are included.

  12. Images that are 'placed' qualify for the 'Image Of The Year' competition, see below for more detail.

  13. There are additional certificates for well-placed members who have not previously been awarded a certificate.

• Image of the Year

  1. Entries for image of the year are restricted to images that have been placed (as Rule 10, above) in the rounds of that year’s competition. Images may be modified by the entrant, for example, in line with the judge's comments in the round in which it was placed. In each category a member may have a maximum of 4 images. If a member has more than 4 qualifying images they may select the 4 they wish to be entered. Depending on the total number of images for the evening, it may be possible for members without placed images to submit an image that had been submitted during the year but not placed.

  2. Entries are normally required three weeks before judging. The Competition Secretary is likely to have the projected images already, but will need the prints. If any images have been modified (as in Rule 1), it is up to the member to submit the modified image, not up to the Competition Secretary to ask for it.

  3. Judging will be by an independent accredited judge, not involved in any of that year’s Rounds.

  4. In each category the judge will select 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Highly Commended and Commended images.
     They will select an overall 'Image of the Year' from the three individual category 1sts.
     Certificates will be awarded as appropriate. 

• The Themed Competitions

  1. A competition for projected images will be held two or three times a year, to a specific theme. The themes will be selected well in advance by discussion within the Club.

  2. Entrants may submit up to five images (JPEGs only) submitted by e-mail to the organiser of the competition, who will decide the opening and closing dates for submission. Members are encouraged to submit recent images, but archive images are allowed (but see 4 below).

  3. Judging will be by members’ votes, usually in two rounds of voting, one before and one after the break. [If the competition is run by Zoom, the first round will be done by e-mail.] Entrants must not score their own entries. Members should note that the most important part of voting is whether the image fits the theme, rather than technical quality or cleverness of title.

  4. Any image can be submitted subsequently to a Round of the Annual Competition (subject to the time rule - Annual Competition 6 - if in operation), but any image placed in the Annual Competition or the Panel Competition cannot be entered for the Themed Competition.

• The Panel Competition

  1. A Panel Competition will be held at least once a year. Members can decide whether a particular competition will be prints, projected, or a mixture. The Panel will be of five images (this number may be altered). They will be judged by an external judge, given instructions that the unity of the panel is the most important aspect of judging.

  2. Each member can submit up to 2 panels. There is no restriction on choice of subject for a panel, but a member cannot submit more than one panel on a particular subject either within a single competition, or at subsequent competitions.

  3. Images can be newly taken or they can be archive material: the time rule (Annual Competition rule 6, above) does not apply. However only one image, whether archive or within the time limit, can have been placed in a Round of the Annual Competition.

  4. Individual images should be prepared as for the Annual Competition. Panels must be titled and all individual images must be titled, if only Panel Title_1, Panel Title_2, etc. 

  5. The arrangement of the individual images within the panel is up to the member but the whole panel image must fit the 1600 x 1200 size requirement for digital projection. There are no restrictions on borders or masking of the panel. A title, but not the member's name, can be added to the whole panel image if the membr so wishes. 

  6. The competition will be judged by an external judge, given instructions that the unity of the panel is the most important aspect of judging. Panels will be shown first as the five individual images, without comment, and then as the whole panel. The judge will be asked to make their comments while the whole panel is projected, and to identify as “judge’s choice” any individual image that they believe would do well in a single image competition. The judge will be asked to select 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places for the panels, and Highly Commended and Commended panels if appropriate. There will be no placings of individual images.

  7.  No panel that has been placed in a previous Panel Competition can be re-entered in a subsequent Panel Competition. A panel that was unplaced can be re-entered, modified according to the judge’s comments if the member so wishes. Images from the Panel Competition can be used in subsequent Rounds of the Annual Competition, provided they adhere to the time rule (see Annual Competition rule 6, above).

  8. The results of the Panel Competition will accrue towards an end-of-year certificate awarded to the member with the highest total of points from the categories in the Annual Competition (currently prints, broad theme DPIs, and open DPIs). A member will score only the points for their higher scoring panel.

Inter-Club Competitions

1. Any image submitted by an NWBCC member to any NWBCC competition will be automatically considered for selection by the Committee for inter-club competitions (although members retain the right to block selection for external competitions). Other entries will be chosen at Club Meetings or by submission for consideration by the NWBCC committee, or a sub-committee, as convenient.

2. Inter-Club Competitions usually limit the number of entries from individuals.

3. Judging may be done in a single event using an independent judge, or will be carried out once at each club by different independent judges.

• Humorous Image

  1. The humorous image competition for projected images is held at the last meeting of the  calendar year. The winner used to receive the Richard Burden Cup but will now be awarded a certificate.

  2. Each entrant may submit up to 3 images, only on the day of the competition if meeting physically, otherwise at the organiser's discretion.

  3. The winner will be decided by club members’ voting. Entrants must not score their own entries, and must be infinitely tolerant of others’ senses of humour!

Recommendations -

Prints -

• It is strongly recommended that all prints be mounted to 40cm  x 50cm.  Smaller mounts risk damaging other prints in transit.

• A protective backing is helpful to prevent damage both to the entry and to other entries.

• Please ensure that there are no residues from tape or adhesives that might damage other entries.  Prints that have such residues may be rejected.

Projected Images -

• It’s best to get the size right, because adjusting your images for projection may alter the image.

• Although not a requirement, sRGB colourspace is advised.

• When titling projected images, please don't use any punctuation or special characters, as these can confuse computer filing systems.

For further guidance see the 'Advice' pages.