Our competition year runs from May 1 - April 30. The competitions will generally open for submissions in late April or early May. The deadline for submission is the 3rd Tuesday in May. Prints may be dropped off on the Print night in May. The results are announced at the Annual Awards and Appreciation Banquet held on our Education Night in June.

There are two different types of Competitions - The Special Award Competition and the End of Year Competition (Best In). These Competitions have different rules. An image may be entered into either the End of Year Competition (Best In), or the Special Award Competition, but not both. 

 

 

Special Award Competition

One image may be entered into each of the Special Award categories below.

These competitions are held separately in both Print and Projected. The same image may be entered as a Print and as a Projected image. But the Print must be a physical print handed in to the Print Director.

Images submitted into the regular monthly competitions are eligible for this competition, but an image may be entered into either the End of Year Competition (Best In), or the Special Award Competition, but not both.  If you are entering an image that was previously submitted, follow the steps listed below to find the image in your Image Library. 

Images that have not been submitted before are also eligible, and can be entered into future monthly competitions.

Category - In honor of

  • Design (patterns) - Florence Turner
  • Frost (and/ or) Snow- Howard and Sadie Wilder, George Manwaring
  • Originality - Grace Lanctoc
  • Portrait
  • Photojournalism
  • Travel - The Andersons 
  • Macro (Projected only) - Millie Kelly
  • Zoo / Aquarium (Print only) - Richard I. Birchfield

 

 

End of Year Competition (Best In)

This competition is for images that were already entered into our regular monthly competitions during the competition year. Only images that were entered into the monthly competitions are eligible. 

Each member may enter

  • two (2) Creative Images (Best in Projected Creative)
  • two (2) Nature Images (Best in Projected Nature)
  • two (2) Open Images (Best in Projected Open)
  • two (2) Theme Images (Best in Projected Themes)
  • four (4) Prints (Best Prints in Large Color, Best Prints in Large Mono, Best Prints in Small Color, Best Prints in Large Mono.) The Prints may be distributed across the Print Categories however you wish. (You may enter all 4 images in Small Color, for example.)

Entries must be the same size and medium as the original entry (print, slide or digitally projected) and entered into the same original Category - Projected (Creative, Nature, Open, Theme) or Print (Small Color, Large Color, Small Monochrome, Large Monochrome.) However, you are allowed to make small changes to your original image to incorporate feedback received during commentary. 

You are allowed to edit an image based on feedback received during commentary. For example, if the commentator suggested a crop for the image, you are now allowed to crop the image and submit that version. There is one catch, however- the website software will not allow you to have two copies of the same image with the same name. To get around this, add "edited" to the image title. (Example - "Baskets - edited.")

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Can only winning images in the monthly Competitions be submitted? No, all images that were entered into the regular monthly competitions are eligible, whether they received an award or not.
  • My image was originally entered into Nature. Can I enter it into Open instead? No. Images in the End of Year Competition must be entered into the same Category in the End of Year Competition as they were in the original monthly competition.

  • Who judges these images? Three people who are not members of SPS judge the images. Often this is another photo club.

 

How do I enter images that were previously submitted? This step by step guide with screenshots shows how to enter. Or simply follow the steps below.

  • Click on "Submit Images to a Competition."
  • Find the Category for the End of Year Competition you wish to enter, (Creative, for example) and click Select.
  • Click on "Add Images from my Image Library." This is the step that is different than our monthly competitions. 
  • The next screen that comes up will allow you to filter your images to make them easier to choose. If you know the title of the image you want to enter, you can search for it by name. If not, use the search options to find the images you wish to enter. The most useful filtering option may be to filter by "Competition Type."
  • Competition Type - Find the heading in the left hand column that says "Competition Type." (The default is set to "Do not filter on Competition Type.") Use the down arrow to bring up the Competition Categories. Select the one you are entering ("Creative Projected" for example.) This will bring up only those images that were entered into the Creative Category.
  • Click on "Search for Images." This may take a few moments.
  • Put a check mark to select the images you want to enter.
  • When you are finished, click "Finished Marking Desired Images."
  • This brings up a page where you can edit the title. For the End of Year Competitions, leave the title the same.
  • Click on "Save any changes and return to the original page."
  • To enter images into the next Category, click on "Return to Competition List," and repeat this process. 

 

 

Awards

The Annual Awards and Appreciation Banquet is held on the Education Night in June of each year. This is often a banquet and social event. Winners of the End of Year and Special Award Competitions are announced, and other certificates and awards are presented.

Awards presented may include: 

  • Merit Award - Presented each time a member accumulates 5 Merit Points within a Division (Print) or Category (Projected.) Merit Points accumulate over the lifetime of the member. 
    • Print Division - one Merit Point is awarded to the maker of the image in each Category that receives 1st place and scores 39 points or above. There may be multiple 1st place winners, and all will receive one Merit Point.
    • Projected Division - one Merit Point is awarded to the makers of the images in each Category that receive 1st and 2nd place and score 39 or above. There may be multiple 1st and 2nd place winners, and all will receive one Merit Point.

 

  • Total Points Accumulated Award - Presented to members with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd highest total scores in each Category for the competition year. (Ties are possible.)

 

  • Highest Average Score Award - Presented to members with average scores of 39.0 and above during the competition year, to acknowledge their consistent achievement. (Ties are possible.)
    • In the Print Division, each member’s score is calculated by averaging their 10 highest scores across the Division as a whole. All of the Categories (Small Color, Large Color, Small Monochrome, and Large Monochrome) are included into one average.
    • In the Projected Division, each member’s score is calculated by averaging their 6 highest scores in each separate Category (Creative, Nature, Open and Themes.)

 

  • People’s Choice Award - Presented each time a member accumulates 5 People’s Choice Points within a Category. The People's Choice images are selected by the membership. After every Competition, members will be able to vote for their favorite image(s) in each Category. People’s Choice Points accumulate over the lifetime of the member. 

 

  • Distinguished Service Award - This award is presented on occasion to a member who has shown a long history of committed service to the club. Recipients of this award have been active members who have worked to improve the club in numerous ways such as by serving on the board, by being a commentator, by judging images, and/or by conducting workshops. The club could not function without these dedicated volunteers.

 

 

 

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