General Rules

Competitions are open to paid up members of the Camera Club of Ottawa.  Full Competition Rules can be found in the CCO Operations Manual.  Members are encouraged to read it to become familiar with how the club operates.  The following is an extract from the Operations Manual of the basic rules that apply to all competitions.  Some competitions, for example Nature and Portrait, have specific rules which can be found in the Operations Manual.  Most competitions have a Topic and an Open section.  The Topic section will have requirements described in the competition description.

Members are responsible for following all competition rules or their submission(s) may be disqualified.  

5.0 COMPETITION RULES

5.1 General Provisions

1. Competitions are open to all members in good standing.

2. There shall be both Print and Slide Competitions each year. Topics for the competitions shall be chosen by the Executive, based on recommendations from the Slide and Print Committees.

3. Each photograph entered in a competition must be taken/created/processed (including post-processing) by the competitor. Where required, the photographer shall retain model release(s) and make it (them) available on request.

4. Competitors must also retain proof of ownership for any image entered; this may be in the form of physical negatives, digital negatives and/or unedited camera raw files, or other such proof of ownership. If a competitor has previously or intends to sell the copyright of any image to be or previously entered in any Club competition, they must inform the Competition Chair(s) so that the image is removed from the club’s website (the image is still eligible for entry).

5. Any image entered in a Club competition regardless of final standing is ineligible for any future competitions (except Portfolios, Photo Essays and InterClub Competitions). This includes similar images (for example with minor crop adjustments, different medium, etc.), at the discretion of the Competition Committee Chair. If however, an image is disqualified or removed from any competition prior to being seen by the judge(s), it may be re-entered in a subsequent competition at the entrant’s discretion.

6. Entries are limited to a maximum of four (4) images per member per competition. If a competition has multiple entry topics, this entry limit is still applied to the entire competition. For example, in a Print Competition with two entry topics (for example, “Twisted” and “Open”), each competitor is limited to four (4) entries, and may allocate their entries between the topics, as they wish.

7. Entry images must not contain personal identification. Exception: required information on the back of print entries.

5.9 Print Competitions

Entries for all classes in Print Competitions may be monochrome or colour.

Prints on paper, on metal or on canvas are acceptable, as long as they respect all specifications below.

All entries may be either printed by a lab or printed by the photographer.

All entries must not exceed twenty-four (24) inches on the longest side or be smaller than five (5) inches on the shortest side, including the matte where applicable.

Each submission on a non-rigid medium (i.e. canvas or paper, regardless of entry class) must be matted complete with a backing board, and clearly labeled (as indicated below).

No print entries may be framed or laminated, with the exception of metal prints that may be laminated.

Submissions are handled many times, and transported many times for each competition.  It's up to the submitting member to ensure that each submission is protected to minimize damage during the process. Images without a mat (e.g. metal prints) are recommended to have some sort of protective layer in place during handling and transport.

Each submission must be identified only on the back by:

• Name of the competitor

• The class in which the print is being entered

• Topic and Date for which the print is being entered

• TOP or an “up arrow” identifying the top edge of the photo

• Submission title matching the title given when entering the digital version on the CCO website.

• The image itself cannot bear any sign that would enable identification of the photographer.

Members submitting images for the print competition will be required to bring them to a club meeting as specified by the Competition Chair prior to the submission deadline. The print images will be displayed the night of the competition

Members submitting print images must provide a digital JPEG image using the digital submission link on the Club’s website as referred in section 5.10, by midnight of the submission deadline. Failure to submit either the print image or digital copy by the submission deadline will disqualify that image from that competition. The uploaded digital copy should match the framing/cropping, colour/tone and composition of the final print image.

The Print Competition Lead has the ultimate responsibility to disqualify a print that does not meet all requirements described herein.

5.10 Slide Competitions

All slide competitions are limited to digital image media only (following the requirements below) unless specified by the Competition Chair.

Digital images submitted to competitions must be prepared as follows:

• Images must be 2160 pixels on the longest side

• Images must be in JPEG format

• Images must use the sRGB colour space

Digital images must be submitted via the Club website before the submission deadline. In order to submit images, members must authenticate with the website by using the ‘Member Login’ link.

If a member is unable to access the online competition system, they should contact the Webmaster at web-team@cameraclubottawa.ca or the Competition Chair for assistance. As unforeseen problems can arise when working with computers, we urge members to attempt submissions well in advance of the submission deadline.