Blandford Forum Camera Club

Points Cup Competition (Posted for Colin Cross)

Houston ………. we have a problem!

As I have mentioned in a previous note on our website, it is a problem of our own making and success: too many points cup entries for the Judge to adequately cope within the time frame available. We have to give the Judge a reasonable workload and at the same time, provide our members with a transparent and unbiased critique of their work. There have been many suggestions via the Website, Emails from other members to the Committee and verbal suggestions from other members. Equally, individual Committee members are never shy with their own views, so an “interesting debate” was the order of the day at last nights Committee Meeting.

• So, am I going into details of the Committee Meeting? Yes

• Is this going to be a regular occurrence? No

• Am I going to publish Minutes? No

I am going through this process, because any change to Points Cup is perhaps one of the most important series of events in our calendar. On this unusual occasion, I have the approval of the Committee to summarise the debate and publish our conclusion. Please bear with me, because I am doing this at the earliest opportunity and without the benefit of the minutes in front of me. Therefore any lack of tact, diplomacy, or poor memory is entirely down to me. Please also bear in mind that I am putting in a paragraph that would need a couple of pages to accurately cover the debate on each item.

Some of the suggestions were:

• Reduce entries from 3 to 2

• Increase time available

• Pre-select only the better entries

• Hold it over two evenings

• Internal judges to pre-qualify entries

• Extend members appreciation evening

• Pre judge and only give marks on the evening

• Preclude some entries’ after a give maximum is reached

If I have missed anyone’s suggestion, that is my omission, but I assure you that all were collated and included within the debate.

We used to have a lot more competitions. Many were very poorly attended and there were ongoing complaints from members that there were too many competitions. A poll of members concluded that Points Cup was the most popular and should remain, with the resulting free evenings dedicated to “doing/learning” events. Previously, members could have four entries, two in two classes. This was subsequently reduced to three overall, but could be entered at each member’s preference. This was very helpful in establishing DPI’s, which were quite new at the time.

The SAPA Guidelines advise 80 as the maximum number that a Judge should be presented with. That is the maximum that judges would expect and what they are presented with from other clubs. Judges are a rare commodity and we should bear in mind that there is no compulsion for them to accept our invitation. Therefore, it behoves us to make their experience a pleasant and welcoming one, so that they are pleased to judge our competitions. On the subject of judging, we appear to have forgotten some of the normal protocols for when judging is taking place, so I will come up with some guidance on this for another time.

It was considered that splitting the competition over two evenings would take us back to the too many competitions scenario and monthly member’s work appreciation evenings would be viewed in a similar vein.

Whilst we have members capable of internal judging to a high level, it has been used before and was never a satisfactory solution. Some members take their competitions very seriously and it’s bad enough getting a low mark from a Judge, but that same low mark from a friend and fellow member is tantamount to “Handbags at Dawn!”

Extending the evening by starting earlier didn’t find much favour. Many members have other commitments, such as earning a living, so a 7:00pm start wouldn’t work for them. Plus, we would potentially be starting at different times for different events. The preference was to keep things simple with one start time.

Any form of pre-selection didn’t find any supporters. All members, regardless of ability, should be able to have their work independently assessed. Today’s beginners are tomorrow’s experienced photographers and there shouldn’t be any impediment to their learning curve, in favour of the current more advanced members. Whilst some of our expert members may be willing to forego the Judge’s critique and just hear the mark, the majority of our members value the Judge’s comments, as an aid to their continuing improvement.

That was the essence of the debate and the following is the Committee’s solution:

• Members will continue to be able to enter a maximum of three images.

• Members free choice of how many of those three in each category, as we do now.

• Members to mark their entries A, B, or C.

• In the event that the competition is oversubscribed, all C entries will be removed.

• If the competition is still oversubscribed, all B entries will be removed.

• Any removed entries will be advised to the members present, before judging commences.

• Any removed entries will still be eligible for future Points Cup Competitions.

• This modification of the entry rules will commence September 2012.

• This will not affect the current season up to May 2012.

This was a unanimous decision from the Committee and even though the problem is current, it was considered undesirable to change the rules part way through the season. Generally, entries are higher during the first half of the season and tend to slow down during the second half. As we are now in the second half, the problem should be mitigated for the rest of the season.

Colin Cross
Chairman