Competitions
The Society holds a wide range of competitions throughout the year. Below are details and rules for each of them, including both 'Internal' and 'External' Competitions.
To have a look at the results from recent major competitions click here: 'Results'.
Rules for Competitions are updated periodically. For the 2019-2020 season, revisions have been made to the 12-Shot Challenge rules. Note that changes have also been made to the General Rules for Competitions, which will affect the competitions detailed below.
A printable version of the rules can be found here.
Internal Competitions
All of our internal competitions are covered by a set of General Rules, which can be found here.
Quarterly Competitions - new rules from January 2026
This competition is over four rounds held throughout the calendar year, from January to December, and covers two categories, namely prints and projected digital images. Members may enter either or both of the categories, with a maximum of six entries in each per round. The top three scores in each of the two categories will count towards the competition. Any further images may be re-submitted in future rounds. In the event of two or more images from the same author having the third highest score, they will be considered for this rule in alphabetical order. Awards are presented at the Annual Dinner for the winners in each category and can be won only if a minimum of three entries have been made in each of the four rounds. Please see below for interim arrangements in place during the change to this new regime, i.e. for 2026.
In accordance with the Rules Applicable to ALL Sileby Competitions an image may be entered both as a projected digital image and as a print but never in the same round.
Interim Arrangements
In order to make the adoption of the changes to the rules on Quarterly Competitions as fair and reasonable as possible, the following interim measures have been put in place.
The new rules state that from January 2026 an image may be entered only once as either a colour or a monochrome print as currently with digital entries.
To facilitate this switch to a single print class, whilst any print entered prior to January 2026 may not be re-entered in their original medium, any image used as a monochrome print prior to January 2026 may be used in colour post-January 2026 and vice versa. This is so that existing prints can be entered to encourage participation, particularly where members have given up because they did not have enough prints to complete a year.
Whilst the Competition Secretaries have access to the digital images entered for the past 10 years, for prints we have only print titles, which are often reused. To aid the Competition Secretaries in ensuring compliance with the rules, from 2026 a digital version of each print is to be submitted along with the print, following the usual size requirements for digital images. This will make it easier to keep track of which entries can be reused and if the image has been used before as currently with digital images.
The Graham Johnson 12-Shot Challenge
This competition is run as digital only and all pictures must have been taken on a smartphone. Further, all images must have been taken after the announcement of the competition.
Images should be taken to form a panel. Participants are encouraged to consider pictures that relate to one another and around a single theme as decided by the entrant.
Detailed instructions for the preparation and submission of work, which may change from season to season, shall be issued alongside the list of subjects. This competition is run as digital only.
Annual (Christmas) Competition
Members may submit up to nine entries in total with not more than six entries being in any one category, namely prints (monochrome and colour as one category) or projected digital images. Awards are made for Best Print and Best Projected Image.
This competition is intended to promote current images and to showcase a year’s work. Entries must not have been submitted to any Sileby Photographic Society competition prior to January 1st of the calendar year of submission.
Digital Image Knockout Competition
The logistics for this competition are complex, so entrants must read and follow the instructions for entry and adhere strictly to deadlines.
Entrants declare a list of eighteen entries, which must not have been previously used in the knockout competition. In each round of the knockout, three entries are used and then subsequently discarded. Each round consists of pairs of entrants, as determined by a draw, competing against each other. In the event of there being insufficient entrants to allow the first round to be completely filled, an appropriate number of entrants will be awarded a bye. The entrant from each pair winning the round enters the draw for the next round. In the event of a tie, the winner is determined by a sudden death play-off using one extra entry.
Entries must not have been previously used in the Knockout Competition. The definition of “used” here refers to images that have been judged or selected for a bye in the first round. Thus, any images declared in a given year but not judged or selected for a bye may be entered in a subsequent year.
Thematic Competition
This competition is currently suspended.
The form of this annual competition is chosen by combining a subject with a medium, for example “monochrome digital”. Both of these elements are drawn randomly, so that a wide variety of topics and presentation forms are covered.
Entrants may submit a maximum of four images. Entries must not have been submitted to any Sileby competition prior to the start of the previous calendar year.
Panel Competition
This competition is open to prints and digital images in panels or sets of three or four images. Individual prints must be not larger than A4 and may be mounted separately or together on one mount board; the latter to be not larger than 500mm x 400mm. Digital images must be in accordance with the "Rules specific to Projected Digital Images", which can be found here. Each panel of three or four digital images must be combined to form one image for projection with a size not exceeding 1280 x 1024 pixels. Each member may submit up to two panels of prints and two panels of projected images. The subject matter is open but from time to time it may be that Themed panels will be requested.
Nature Photography
None of our competitions includes a section exclusively aimed at nature photography. Entries featuring a nature subject do not, therefore, need to conform to the strict FIAP/PAGB rules concerning Nature Images. However, if the author wishes to submit images in a Nature Class in an external competition (such as NEMPF) it is up to the author to ensure that the image conforms with the FIAP/PAGB rules which can be found on their respective web sites. Further information can be sought from the External Competition Secretary.
External Competitions
Note that the specifications for digital projected images are likely to vary from one external competition to another, but see below. For prints, most will specify a size of exactly 500mm by 400mm, sometimes with a maximum thickness, typically 4mm. You are advised to read the rules for each external competition carefully. Because this is Sileby’s maximum size, members aspiring to have their prints represent Sileby or to enter External Competitions should ensure that their prints match this 500mm by 400mm requirement.
Note that the specifications for digital projected images are likely to vary from one external competition to another. Most external competitions will specify a print mount size of exactly 500mm by 400mm. This will often be combined with a maximum thickness, often 4mm. You are advised to read the rules for each external competition. In addition, you may be interested to read the advice here.
Submission dates and rules for Federation and other external competitions will be announced by the appropriate Competition Secretary as details are received. These dates must be rigorously adhered to. The Competition Secretary will keep members informed of external exhibition dates as they become known. It is interesting, informative and usually inspiring to visit other clubs' exhibitions and particularly those mounted by the federations.
Changes to rules are coming in for some external competitions