Competitions

Competitions are open to all PAID members.

Dues

Dues must be paid in full by October 1. After the September competition, non-paid members cannot compete until their dues have been paid.

Classes

There are three classes: B for Beginner; A for Advanced; and AA for Masters. If you are not sure which class to enter, see Which Class to Enter below. You must finish the season in the same class you first enter. The Competition Chair reserves the right to adjust the number of classes, based on club membership and competition participation.

Which Class to Enter

If you're new to BWPS and don't know which class to enter, just talk to Steve Iadarola, Competition Chair. If your work is not known, you may be asked to submit some of your recent images so you can be placed in the class that you'll be most comfortable for the season. You must finish the year in that same class. At the end of the year, the top finisher in each class will move to the next class (B to A, A to AA) for the next competition season. The Competition Chair may also ask members to switch classes if the number of competitors in each class becomes unbalanced.

Number of Images

Members can submit up to THREE digital images in each competition.

Image Size

Your image must be no wider than 1400 pixels and no taller than 1050 pixels. Your image must be in .jpg (JPEG) format. You can save your image at Maximum JPEG Image Quality (setting of 12 in Photoshop). For anyone (from expert to beginner) who needs help to resize your images for BWPS digital competitions, here's a handy guide.

How to Title Your Image Files

All image files must follow this File Naming Convention in order to be accepted into the competition. Each title must include, in this sequence, separated by underscores:

• Class B, A, or AA (capital letters please)
• Image Title with no spaces, # or & characters in Camel Case, e.g. BirdOnStick
• Maker's full First Name and Last Name, e.g. SusanKeator, FrankForward
• .jpg

For example: A_IndianDancer_SusanKeator.jpg is a Class A image titled Indian Dancer  by Susan Keator. And AA_WolfEatingCuteKitten_FrankForward.jpg is a Class AA image titled Wolf Eating Cute Kitten by Frank Forward.

Please Note: We don't want to make things difficult for anyone, but the software that runs the competition may not be smart enough to recognize your entry if it doesn't conform to the naming standard and this File Naming Convention will guarantee that your images make it into the competition. Thanks for your cooperation.

How to Submit Entries

Make sure your filenames follow the File Naming Convention detailed in How to Title Your Image Files and are properly sized as described in Image Size. Then email your images.

Deadline for Submission

Images must be RECEIVED ON or BEFORE the deadline date, which is the Sunday prior to each digital competition. Please check the Calendar for the exact dates. Images received after the entry date are not guaranteed to be included in that competition. If you miss the deadline, you may still email your entries, and we will make our best effort to include them in the competition. You may also bring the images on a CD to the competition and we will hopefully be able to enter them, but we cannot guarantee it. Reasons they may not make it include the competition has already begun, the CD is unreadable, etc.

Note: You should receive an email reply confirming receipt of emailed images. If you do not receive a reply, contact the competition chair to make sure your images were received.

Make-ups

There are no make-ups allowed. All members must have their images into the competition chair by the deadline date which is the Sunday before the competition. Please check the Calendar for all of the deadline dates for each competition.

Eligible Images

1. The photograph(s) and all manipulation must be the work of the member submitting the image.
2. You may NOT enter any image that won a ribbon in a Boston West Photographic Society digital competition last year (2006-7).
3. Any image that wins a ribbon in BWPS digital competition can NOT be entered: THIS YEAR in any other BWPS competition; and ANY SUBSEQUENT YEARS in BWPS digital competitions.
4. Ribbon-winning images from previous season BWPS slide competitions CAN be converted to digital images and submitted in BWPS digital competitions this season.
5. NEAR DUPLICATES. You can NOT enter a near-duplicate of a ribbon-winning image from last year's BWPS digital competitions, OR this season's BWPS digital or slide competitions. What is a near-duplicate image? Basically, near duplicates are images of the same subjects, from the same angle, at the same time of day or same lighting. Vertical and horizontal formats of the same image, same angle, same lighting are also near duplicates. If you submit a near-duplicate image, the image will be disqualified and you will not be allowed to make up that missing image. If you have ANY DOUBT whether an image is a near duplicate, show the image to the Competition Chair.
6. The Competition Chair's judgment is the FINAL WORD regarding image eligibility.

Judging

Digital competitions will be judged by the In/Out system. For each class, the judge will reduce the total number of images by one half by declaring In or Out after the judge's comments on each image. Then, the judge will award blue or red ribbons to each of the remaining images.

Ribbons

Blue ribbons will be awarded to images that demonstrate manifestly superior work; red ribbons will be awarded to the remainder of the images that are not eliminated.

Scoring

For the purposes of cumulative season scoring, each image submitted into a competition will receive 1 point. Additionally, each image that is awarded a red ribbon will receive 1 additional point, while each image that is awarded a blue ribbon will receive 2 additional points.

Image of the Year Competition

All ribbon-winning images from the season are eligible for entry in the Digital Image of the Year Competition held towards the end of the season (see the Calendar for the competition date). Entries will be made for you automatically with the ribbon winning images from throughout the year.