Croydon Camera Club
Croydon Camera Club

Competitions, Rules, and Trophies

There are many competitions throughout the year, both within the club and between clubs. Many have Cups and other trophies associated with them. You can submit your work to compete for many, indeed all, these trophies. Here's what you can try for !

The Official Competition Rules for all competitions, as of August 2011, are available for download. The rules listed against each of the Trophies and Competitions, shown below, attempt to apply these Official Rules to each Competition to make each Competition easier to understand and enter. If you find confusion or contradiction between these sets of rules, note that this downloadable PDF of Official Rules supersedes all other rules.


Competition Results


The Competition Results are available as downloadable PDF files. They are listed here as they become available through the year.

The Club Uses Your Entries for Other Purposes

Member's competition images may be used for the following:

  • To represent the club in external competitions.
  • For reproduction on the club website, club Bulletin and on club promotional material.
  • Copyright will remain with the photographer.
  • If you DO NOT wish for your images to be used for these purposes, please inform the Competition Secretary, Bulletin Editor or a member of the Council.

Competition Categories

All categories are run as open competitions.

  • Advanced Class – for which the required standard shall be that likely to consistently achieve acceptance at Open Exhibition level. Fellowship and Associate members of the R.P.S. and B.I.P.P. shall automatically qualify.
  • Standard Class - for all other members.
The Classification Panel:

Those Standard class members who either win or are runners-up at the end of each season in the PRINT, SLIDE and DIGITAL categories, will be invited to join the Advanced Class for future competitions. Reclassification of classes will be considered by a panel of not less than two experienced exhibiting photographers, under the chairmanship of the President. For good and sufficient reason, council may at any time reconvene a Classification Panel.

Submission of a panel of 10 images for classification should be given to the Competition Secretary on the first Wednesday that the Club returns in September, following the summer break. Members who wish to apply, should contact either the Competition Secretary or the President.


The Do's and Don'ts of Competition Entry

Repetition of images:

An image should not be shown in both of the monthly slide and digitally projected competitions, i.e. it can be shown as a print and slide, or a print and a digitally projected image, but not in all three competitions.

A print or slide which has not been awarded a certificate may be resubmitted once only in a materially modified form.

Artistic Manipulation:

Digital manipulation is accepted in the Print and Digital categories provided all elements are created entirely from the photographers own photographs. Slides must be film original without digital manipulation.

If another person helps with the production, e.g. printing, then we trust our members will not allow this third party any creative freedom!

Professionally or trade processed prints are eligible for entry in both classes.

Mounts, Labels and Titles:

All prints and slides MUST BE CLEARLY TITLED AND SHOW THE MEMBER’S NAME AND COMPETITION CLASS.

Slides must be correctly spotted – bottom left corner as viewed the correct way round.

Prints must be securely mounted; glass mounts for PRINTS are not accepted.

The '1024px x 768px' Rule for Digital Images:

Digital image dimensions must not exceed 1024 pixels wide or 768 pixels high.

What this means...

The Projector has a native resolution of 1024px by 768px, so if the image being projected is exactly 1024 x 768 pixels the image will fill the whole screen. This image has an aspect ratio of 4:3.

Rectangular images with an exact 4:3 aspect ratio in landscape format will have the maximum available dimension of 1024 x 768 pixels. Where rectangular images have a different aspect ratio and/or are in portrait format, only one of the sides can have a dimension of 1024 or 768 pixels. For example, a vertical image with a 4:3 aspect ratio will have 768 x 576 pixels. Square images will always be 768 x 768 pixels.

The implications of this will be that a landscape image will provide more impact than any other size, as it occupies a larger space on the screen. (In previous years, under the 768px by 768px regulations, a square image would have had the benefit of showing a larger area on the screen than either landscape or portrait.)

Fortunately, all you have to do when resizing your picture in Photoshop Elements is to make changes in the Image | Image Resize | Image Size drop down menu. Tick Resample Image On, tick Constrain Proportions On, change the Pixel Dimensions to Width 1024px and Height 768px, and it’s done. (The figure entered in the width dimension might automatically change when the height value is input. This is due to Photoshop retaining the original aspect ratio and it is not necessary to make any correction.)

It is even easier using the full Photoshop. Go to File | Automate | Fit Image, and set Width to 1024px and Height 768px. For subsequent images, you will find the settings 1024px and 768px are remembered.

On Competition Night:

All prints and slides must be handed in no later than 7.45 pm on the evening of the competition, and digitally projected images one week before the event. Entries may be given to the Competition Secretary earlier if necessary. Additional instructions will be given for the preparation of digital files in the digitally projected contests.

Also...

The annual slide competition winner shall be the member, at the end of the season, with the highest total score in each relevant class, taken from three out of the four rounds, i.e. at the end of the year each member’s lowest evening's total is eliminated.

Members do not have to enter for the purpose of competing for the trophies. It is acceptable to enter a few prints or slides occasionally, for the purpose of obtaining a critique or advice. Please note that images entered may not be used for any competition until the following years programme.

The Bottom Line...

In the event of any ambiguity in the Rules, or any dispute, the decision of the Chairman of the evening will be final.

Your Club membership subscription must be up to date for you to be eligible to enter competitions and to receive any trophy that you should win. Don't forget: subscriptions are due on the 1st of April each year.


Rules: Regular Trophy Competitions

The Official Competition Rules for all competitions superceeds this information in the event of a conflict.

  • The Digital Projection Competition Rules. The Standard Class competition is for the "Most Trophy". The Advanced Class competition is for the "Croydon Trophy".

  • The Print Competition Rules for Standard and Advanced Classes. The Standard Class competition is for the "Pickford Trophy". The Advanced Class competition is for the "President's Trophy".

  • The Slide Competition Rules for combined Standard and Advanced Classes. The Standard Class competition is for the "Peter Steele Cup". The Advanced Class competition is for the "Stevenson Memorial Trophy".

Rules: Special Trophy Competitions

The Official Competition Rules for all competitions superceeds this information in the event of a conflict.


The Annual Exhibition

At the Annual Exhibition there are many awards. You must present a panel of prints and/or slides to be eligible. Every club member is eligible to present a panel. The awards are:
  • The "Dorrett Cup" for Best Print Panel.

  • The "Cundell Trophy" for Best Print.

  • The Best Print runner-up Trophy.

  • The "Spackman Trophy" for Best Slide Panel.

  • The "Hope Trophy" for Best Slide.

  • The Best Slide runner-up Trophy.

  • The "Eileen Wadley Trophy" for the best Standard Class image, print, or slide.

  • Rules for entering the Digital Projection Annual Exhibition.


Inter-Club and Regional Competitions

These are organised by regional photographic organisations and groups of clubs. The rules may vary from year to year. Check first before submitting your work. All work is submitted through Croydon Camera Club on behalf of its members, and a printed set of rules should be available each time.

  • Federation of South London Competitions

  • Jack's Jug

  • Vic Smith Trophy

  • Surrey Photographic Association Competitions