League Competitions

• 17. Each season the committee will assess the number of competitors in each of the leagues and arrange divisions as appropriate.
• 18. In each of the leagues new members will automatically be placed in the lowest division unless they produce evidence to the Committee that this would be inappropriate. The Committee retains the option to place a member in a division other than the lowest if he/she would obviously be misplaced there and would have an unfair advantage over the other members of that division.
• 19. There will be four print league competitions each season. A maximum of 3 prints per member per competition may be entered. All competitions will be ‘open’ subjects.
• 20. There will be six PDI league competitions each season. A maximum of two images per member per competition may be entered. All competitions will be ‘open’ subjects.
• 21. There will be six Creative PDI league competitions each season. A maximum of two images per member per competition may be entered. All competitions will be ‘open’ subjects. The photographer with the highest total scores from all images entered will be deemed the winner of this league, if there is a tie bonuses will be awarded as in rule 27.
• 22. There will be four Creative Print league competitions each season. A maximum of two images per member per competition may be entered. All competitions will be ‘open’ subjects. The photographer with the highest total scores from all images entered will be deemed the winner of this league, if there is a tie bonuses will be awarded as in rule 27. Titles of entries should be preceded by a capital ‘C’.
• 23. Photographs depicting Natural History and Record may not be subject to any form of manipulation that alters the truth of the photographic statement. No elements may be moved, cloned, added, deleted, rearranged or combined. No manipulation or modification is permitted except that minor retouching of blemishes (which must not alter the truth of the original scene), resizing, cropping selective lightening or darkening, sharpening and restoration of original colour of the scene is permitted. All adjustments must appear natural. No electronic ‘special effect’ filters can be applied.
• 24. Images may be altered, either electronically or otherwise by the photographer, providing the photographic content predominates.
• 25. The use of graphics and fractalius type filters is not permitted. This rule will not apply to the Creative PDI and Creative Print league competitions. In the Creative PDI and Creative Print league competitions artwork and graphics created by the photographer may be incorporated.
• 26. The judges in the league competitions shall be asked to mark entries in each division out of 20. In addition, in each division he/she shall be asked to nominate one winner, one second and one third place.
• 27. For the award of each league trophy the scores for the best 8 entries out of a possible 12 will be aggregated to give a member’s league score for the season. If the aggregate of these points results in a tie, bonuses shall be awarded as follows: 3 points for a first place, 2 for a second place and 1 for a third place. If, after the addition of bonuses the result is a tie the result shall stand and the trophy shall be shared for that season.
• 28. At the end of each season, in print and PDI leagues, members shall be promoted or relegated to the next division in order of merit. The Committee will determine the number of members to be moved in each case and any such moves will be based on each member's league score for the season. Tied marks will be separated by counting the grades.
• 29. Any member who is promoted or relegated may appeal in writing against that decision to the Committee if he/she feels there are sufficient grounds for his/her promotion or relegation to be cancelled (e.g. insufficient experience for promotion, insufficient entries because of illness or similar reasons).
• 30. Any member of Divisions 1 or 2 who has not entered any of the league competitions during the season will not be allocated to a Division for the following season but will be asked to choose the Division(s) in which they wish to compete, subject to the agreement of the Committee.

Overall Winner's Trophy

• To be awarded annually to the person(s) aggregating the highest total of marks, in 1, their print league score (best 8) and 2, either their slide or PDI league score (best 8) which ever is the greater, irrespective of class. If the aggregate of these points results in a tie, bonuses shall be awarded as follows: 3 points for a first place, 2 for a second place and 1 for a third place. If, after the addition of bonuses the result is a tie the result shall stand and the trophy shall be shared for that season.