Competition Rules

Please review thoroughly!

The purpose of this competition is to allow photographers to enter digital files, and/or digital albums to be judged against a standard of excellence using the 12 Elements of a Merit Image. (For more information, go to 12 Elements.) Through this competition, PPAPB members are also eligible to achieve PPAPB exhibition merits toward PALM BEACH PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR AWARD.

Feed-Back on all Images will be given the same date of Competition at our Regular Meeting. Recording Judges comments while judging images might be available. (For more information, on Competition Dates & Deadlines click here: Dates, Prices & FAQ.)

These rules pertain to images entered as digital files created by any photographic processes. All entries must be registered at www.printcompetition.com.

  1. Entrants may submit a case of either, digital files, digital albums, or a combination for judging at www.printcompetition.com (Maximum of 4 entries.)

  2. Entrants are required to upload a digital file for each image entered.

  3. No changes to your entry are permitted once the entry deadline has passed. No refunds will be issued after the entry fee is paid.

  4. Entrants must be PPAPB members to receive merits toward PALM BEACH PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR AWARD.

  5. In order to compete in the member category, you have to be a member for more than 1 year or have your 2023 membership paid in full.

  6. None-members can compete, receiving only a score and feed-back, but no merits will be awarded .

ELIGIBILITY

  1. Entrant must have captured and created the original exposure or exposures.

  2. All processing, manipulation, and rendering were done by the entrant or under their direct supervision.

  3. The entrant has obtained and has access to all necessary releases (model or property) and agrees to hold PPAPB harmless against all claims and liabilities arising out of PPAPB’s display, publication, and promotion or other use of each image submitted to PPAPB.

  4. The entrant’s name shall not appear anywhere in or on the face of the entry.

  5. A maximum of eight entries may be submitted per entrant (2 Cases).

  6. No entry will be eligible if it has been made under the supervision of an instructor or as a class assignment. All images submitted must be self-directed. Images created in an educational environment under direct supervision from an instructor are ineligible.

  7. Any entry that has been created from an existing photograph, portrait, graphic, or any other artwork produced by another person is a violation of the competition rules and will not be judged, accepted, or displayed.

  8. Entries of the same subject in multiple images will be allowed, as long as the images are entirely different concepts. 

  9. Once an image has been awarded an exhibition merit in any category of PPA competition, it may not be entered again in any other category, at any time, by any entrant. No image that receives a merit may be entered more than once under any condition, including any image from a merited album.

CATEGORIES

You must designate one of the below categories for each entry:

Portrait 

Images can portray a subject or subjects from all walks of life and should reflect the personality of the subject(s).

  • Portrait of a Man: Man at least 16 years old. May include Figure Study. Figure Study Portraits must be of a tasteful, artistic nude subject. Images deemed inappropriate for public display will be judged and returned to their respective cases.

  • Portrait of a Woman: Woman at least 16 years old. May include Figure Study. Figure Study Portraits must be of a tasteful, artistic nude subject. Images deemed inappropriate for public display will be judged and returned to their respective cases.

  • Portrait of a Child: Male or female under the age of 16. •

  • Portrait of a Group: Portrait must be two or more people. May include children.

  • Environmental Portrait: Subject(s) on location where the environment is significant to the image.

  • Portrait of a Pet: Portrait of a pet(s) under controlled lighting and a controlled environment, as in a studio. This also includes outdoor portraits where the animal is controlled by the owner or photographer

Illustrative

Capturing the beauty of nature, wildlife, industry, and architectural areas are considered illustrative.

  • Landscape: Scenic image of landscape, seascape, cityscape - with or without people.

  • Wild Animals: Images of animals in an uncontrolled lighting environment. Subjects include wild animals, birds, reptiles and insects.

  • Open: Entry of subject matter that does not clearly fit into any other category.

Commercial

Consists of Commercial and Industrial entries. Commercial entries must contain evidence of publication and/or a tear sheet.

  • Advertising Illustration: Image created to advertise a product or service. A tear sheet is recommended.

  • Architectural: Interior or exterior image of a structure. Industrial: Image created in an industrial environment.

  • Photojournalism: Storytelling, editorial image produced in a non-studio environment for use in a commercial media.

DIGITAL IMAGE ENTRIES

See Video Tutorial: PPA.com/IPC_tutorials

  1. Files must be sized, so the longest dimension is 4000 pixels. (20 inches at 200 ppi).

  2. Each file must contain an embedded color profile of either sRGB or Adobe RGB1998 and be saved at a JPEG quality setting of 10. In most cases, the total file size should not exceed 7.5 MB. Larger files will be accepted when necessary, so long as they are JPG/10.

  3. Files are to be named as Image 1.JPG, Image 2.JPG, Image 3.JPG, Image 4.JPG. No underscores or special characters.  Please add your titles in the registration area when you upload your files.

  4. Adding contact information in the metadata of all competition digital images is highly recommended.

OVERALL RULES:

1. Entries are required to be titled.

2. Entries made in a class or under the guidance of an instructor are invalid and will not be accepted.

3. Entries of the same subject may be entered. They may NOT be the same setting/background and clothing. They must be completely different in content even though the same subject is in the image. Entries in this competition may not be entered again in any other category at any time by any entrant with the exception of entries that score below 70 in which case they may be improved and reentered. An entry that has scored below average (69 or lower), upon improvement may be re-entered in a subsequent competition. These must be marked “Re-Entry.”

4. If an image Merits in any category of competition it may not be entered again in any other category at any time by any entrant. No image that receives a Merit may be entered more than once under any circumstance.

NOTE: Failure to comply with these rules may result in disqualification of the entry.