Competition Goals and Guidelines

The monthly intraclub competitions are intended to be fun and educational. Every attempt will be made to be fair and kind in scoring and critiquing the images. It should be noted, however, that judges’ opinions are just that, and should not be viewed as a verdict. Our hope is that most of the time these competitions will be both enjoyable and enlightening. However, since the judging of art is far from an exact science, disagreement and disappointment are bound to be a part of the process. We will do our best to minimize this.

Below are the guidelines for submitting images. These along with category definitions found under “Contests” will help you be sure that your images meet requirements. For more detailed information, you are encouraged to read “Guidelines for Judges”, particularly the section on Elements of Photography.

The overarching rules for all our competitions are:

1. All elements of your image must be created by you, and photographic elements must predominate. Images should be in good taste.
2. No image may be submitted more than once (simple conversion to monochrome and re-submission is not allowed).
3. No logo or watermark is allowed on a submitted image (a watermark will be added to your image for display on the website if you request that on submission).
4. In an attempt to maintain anonymity during the judging process, neither the maker’s name nor their recognizable image are allowed in a submitted image going forward.

5.  Artificial Intelligence: Advances in artificial intelligence have resulted in their incorporation in many post-processing applications that may be employed in image editing legitimately. However, any function that employs elements from anything outside the original image is not allowed. This includes but is not limited to, the use of any “text to image” application, as these likely incorporate elements from an outside source and therefore is not permitted. 

For details on the mechanics of submitting images, click on “How to submit images” at the bottom of the left column on our website homepage