Grading, Awards and Points
Competition Grades
The club has four grades in each regular monthly and annual competition in both Digital and Print.
- Masters
- A grade
- AB grade
- B grade
Grading promotion
At the end of each year members can be promoted between grades. Awards in Monochrome and Drone Photography competitions do not count towards promotion from one grade to the next.
Promotion from B grade to AB grade:
- minimum of six (6) awards of honour and/or merit during the competition year,
- and at least three (3) of which must be from the Set subject in prints OR at least three (3) from Set subject in digital images
- and a minimum of five (5) other acceptances, three (3) of which MUST be from a Set Subject.
Promotion from AB grade to A grade:
- minimum of eight (8) awards of honour and/or merit during the competition year,
- and at least four (4) of which must be from the Set Subject in prints OR at least four (4) from Set subject in digital images
- and a minimum of eight (8) other acceptances, four (4) of which MUST be from a Set Subject.
Promotion from A grade to Masters:
- There are only ever 9 members in Masters.
- The three lowest scoring members in Masters will drop back to A grade.
- The three top scoring members in A grade will be promoted to Masters.
- Aggregate points for Digital and Print are added together for this calculation.
Trophies will be presented for the following special awards at the Annual Awards Dinner:
- Annual Open Competition Print - 1st, 2nd & 3rd place in all grades
- Annual Open Competition Digital Image - 1st, 2nd & 3rd place in all grades
- Aggregate Points Competition Print - 1st, 2nd & 3rd place in all grades
- Aggregate Points Competition Digital Image – 1st, 2nd & 3rd place in all grades
- 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each of Monochrome and Drone Photography competitions
- Champion Image of the Year - selected from the nine images awarded "Champion Image of the Month" throughout the year
- Greg Foley Trophy - for Club Person of the Year
- Bob Britcher Award - Champion "Most Apt Title" selected from the monthly "Most Apt Title" winners
- Howard & Sue Annual Best Bird Photographic Award (Selected by Howard Baker and Sue Wilson from all bird images submitted in any of the standard monthly competitions)
- Encouragement award - B grade only (may or may not be awarded)
- Certificate awarded for promotion from B to AB Grade
- Certificate awarded for promotion from AB to A Grade
- Certificate awarded for promotion from A Grade to Masters
Aggregate Points
All images entered in any of the nine regular monthly competitions are awarded club points towards the "Aggregate Points Competition" awards based on the judge's score and subsequent award as shown below. Points obtained in both Set and Open monthly competitions and added together.
Judge's Score and Award Names
Images are judged by being awarded a score on a scale of "1" to "4". Prior to each awards night, the Competition Co-ordinator allocates "Merit" or "Honour" to those images given the relevant judging score, as follows:
- Score 4 = Honour
- Score 3 = Merit
- Score 2 = Acceptance
- Score 1 = Entry
A score of "5" is reserved for the image from either set digital or set print that is judged to be the "Image of the Month".
Set competition points (Print and Digital)
- Honour - 17
- Merit - 12
- Acceptance - 7
- Entry - 1
Open competition points (Print and Digital)
- Honour - 12
- Merit - 7
- Acceptance - 3
- Entry - 1
Individual Competition Points
Awards in both "Monochrome" and "Drone Photography" competitions do not contribute towards the aggregate points trophies. Instead, they have their own trophies based on points as follows:
Monochrome Points
- 1st Place - 3
- 2nd Place - 2
- 3rd Place - 1
Drone Photography Points
- 1st Place - 3
- 2nd Place - 2
- 3rd Place - 1