Competitions are held every month except December. Each has an open section and a themed section and members are able to enter up to 4 images per competition. All images are viewed and judged in advance, which allows for greater dialogue on the evening between judge, author & audience (unlike judging on the evening, when to do so would risk revealing the author before the image was scored).

Ten images in each section (themed and open) are held back (shown as TT in the winners' galleries) and from these, 1st, 2nd and 3rd places are awarded. The judge can then award as many or as few 'Highly Commended' [HC] from the remaining 7 top ten images as they think deserve them.

We do not award cups or certificates at the end of the season but to encourage participants and provide a degree of recognition, we apply an informal scoring system. Every image entered gets 1 point plus 2 for a top ten place, 3 for HC then 4,5 and 6 for 3rd, 2nd and 1st. It may be an informal process but it does add to the excitement/tension/interest as the season progresses!

Open - Any subject. This is an option in each competition.
Themed – See definitions for each month below.


Competition Rules

General

1.	All entrants must be paid up members of Wellington and District Camera Club.
2.	Any images submitted must be exclusively the author’s own work and only contain components taken or created by the author. Sharpening, denoise, content aware fill, healing, patching and object removal tools are only permitted where the source for the inserted image data is also from the photographer’s own work. It is the author's responsibility to ensure that this is the case.
3.	Members can enter a maximum of four images per competition, divided between Themed (T) and/or Open (O) classes as they wish. If necessary, due to high numbers of entries, the 4th image may be removed.
4.	Entries not fitting the themed definition may be moved to the open category.
5.	Entries must be submitted by the deadline set by the competitions secretary and shown in the programme, unless an extension to this date is agreed.
6.	Should any member have difficulty producing entries according to the rules, it is perfectly in order to enlist help from other members.
7.	To encourage new work, all images submitted should preferably have been taken within the past five years i.e. since 2018. However, to compensate for the limitations on movement & opportunities for photography imposed by Covid restrictions in 2020-21, this rule will be extended by 2 years i.e. images since 2016 may be submitted.’

Projected Digital Images (PDI)

8.	Entries should preferably be submitted via email to the competition secretary. Alternative methods (e.g. delivery via memory stick, Dropbox etc) are permitted but only if delivery via email is not possible.
9.	Images should be submitted as high quality jpgs in sRGB and should not exceed 1600 pixels wide or 1200 pixels in height. Note that Dicentra will resize larger sizes and will convert other formats to sRGB but, as this may affect the quality of the image, it is recommended that the above size and format be used to begin with.
10.	Each image filename must be in the format: 1, 2, 3 or 4{space}Title{space}T or O. For example 1 My Favourite Image T
	To be clear
	...the number must be a single digit.
	...there must be one space between the number and the Title
	...the Title you use will be exactly what the judge sees. Please check your spelling and typing.
	...there must be one space between the Title and the T or O that denotes the class of entry.
	...the class must be a single letter T or O. No extra letters, spaces, brackets, etc.
11.	Images with filenames that do not conform to the above format will not import into Dicentra and may therefore be excluded from the competition.

Prints

12.	Must be on mounts no larger than 500mm x 400mm and no smaller than 210mm x 297mm (A4).
13.	Each print must be labelled on the back with 1, 2, 3 or 4 followed by the Title followed by T or O. Membership numbers, names or other identifying marks should not be used. For example 1 My Favourite Image T
14.	Mounted prints that are insecurely constructed (e.g. loose adhesive materials, insecure backings, etc.) and likely to damage other prints will not be accepted into competitions.
15.	A PDI version of the print must be submitted at the same time. The PDI filename must have the same title as the print version but does not need to adhere to the strict filename format specified for PDI competitions.
16.	Only the printed image will be judged; the PDI will only be used to display the entry to the audience during the competition. It should therefore be of similar quality and appropriate size (e.g. 1600 x 1200) to best represent the print version.

Re-submission

17.	Entries awarded a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in a competition may not be re-used in a future competition. This includes entries that are very nearly identical to the original entry or a colour to monotone (or vice versa) conversion of the original.
18.	Entries that don’t achieve a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place at the first attempt may be entered one more time in a future competition.

Copyright and use of images.

19.	Authors retain copyright of their images at all times.
20.	Images submitted for club competitions will be retained securely on the club laptop or similar device and may be used for other club purposes eg external battles, club entries into salons or club exhibitions and/or on the club website or social media platforms.
21.	Where necessary, it is the authors responsibility to obtain model release forms and/or parental permissions prior to image submission, not the competition secretary's, who accepts images in ‘good faith’.
22.	Authors may request their image(s) be deleted and/or not used in this way at any time by emailing the competition secretary.