Annual Photo Competition Rules

Photo by, Matt Cashore University of Notre Dame

Rules

The Annual Photo Competition serves to recognize the very best in photography in higher education. Winners in each category will be recognized at the Awards Banquet at the Symposium. The other purpose of this competition, along with the Monthly Image Competition, is to help the Board of Directors choose the Photographer of the Year.
 

Members do not need to attend the symposium to enter. Any UPAA member who is in good standing can submit a maximum of six entries. Photos can be either monochrome or color in any category. All categories, except Personal Vision, MUST be images photographed in the service of your university or college, must have been taken within 18 months prior to the competition, and cannot have been entered in a previous Annual Photo Competition or Annual Print Competition.
 

The Personal Vision category is open to Full, Life, and Retired members. Student and Associate members are eligible to enter the Student and Associate category, but only photographers with Full membership may enter all other categories. Personal Vision awards will not be used to select the Photographer of the Year unless there is a tie, in which case the Personal Vision category will be used as a tiebreaker.

When judging, unless you feel a photo is blatantly in the wrong place, the photographer should be given the benefit of the doubt. If you are not sure what category is appropriate when you’re entering your own photos, keep in mind that you will be judged by a diverse group of people who may deduct points if they believe your photo is in the wrong category.

Voting with integrity and without bias is vital for the feedback and growth of the UPAA membership. Please vote in a way that best reflects the score you feel an image deserves. Be aware of your potential favoritism, conscious or unconscious. This helps the MIC and other competitions be a reliable tool to measure our success and areas of potential growth.

There are 11 categories in the competition:

1. SPORTS ACTION: Photographs taken of athletes (including cheerleaders and mascots) in action during competition or practice in service of your institution.
    
2. SPORTS FEATURES: This category is for all other sports related photography other than sports action and marketing; fans/crowds, cheer, bands, coaching, sidelines.
    
3. SPORTS MARKETING AND ILLUSTRATION: Any photos taken for marketing/promotional purposes (including sports portraits). Studio photos, on location, etc. Photo retouching/editing is permitted. Any composite, generative fill, or AI work done in post must be noted in the caption.
    
4. PORTRAITS: Posed portraits of individuals or groups, in the studio, on your campus, or elsewhere in a university or college-related situation. The subject must be aware that they are being photographed. Other more candid “portraits” belong in the NEWS & COLLEGE LIFE category. Basic retouching/editing is permitted.
    
5. CAMPUS ENVIRONMENT: Open to photographs of buildings, structures, or grounds on and around your campus and college community.
    
6. NEWS AND COLLEGE LIFE: Photos of found subject matter (unposed and uncontrolled) documenting your university or college-related events as they occur naturally. Photographs in this category must adhere to accepted photojournalistic standards.
    
7. GENERAL MARKETING AND ILLUSTRATION: Images taken in controlled environments for marketing purposes or any type of photo illustrations. Photo retouching/editing is permitted. Any composite, generative fill, or AI work done in post must be noted in the caption.
    
8. SCIENCE AND RESEARCH:  Open to photographs taken in the lab, classroom, field, or in the studio for clinical or educational purposes. Images using composite, generative fill, or AI belong in MARKETING AND ILLUSTRATION.
    
9. PHOTO ESSAY: Three or more photographs that convey a theme or tell a story and are produced by one member. Please not that the whole essay must fit into one 1600x1600 box.  
    
10. PERSONAL VISION: Open to photographs of any subject that were made to satisfy your personal interests.
     
11. STUDENT AND ASSOCIATE: Only Student and Associate members may enter this category. Entries may be of any subject. Winning photos will receive recognition, but are not eligible for Best of Show and no points will be awarded towards ranking.

There will be three awards:

1. Monthly Image Competition Overall Winner- Sponsorship and Award provided by Think Tank
2. Annual Photo Competition Overall Winner
3. Mark Philbrick Photographer of the Year - Sponsorship and Award provided by Canon

The Mark Philbrick Photographer of the Year award is selected by the Board utilizing a formula that combines the Annual Photo Competition scores with the Monthly Image Competition scores.

For more information on the Photographer of the Year Selection Process

Image Submission

Online uploading of files is simply browsing and selecting an image from your computer.  Ensure you click on the “Submit Another Entry” button to register your image in the competition.Required fields are: The image, of course, title of image and caption. Please do not add your identity/photo credit in the title or caption field.

• You can change any of these fields by choosing "View My Entries" and then making appropriate changes.
• Changes / Deletions to submissions can be done at any time until the closing of the submission phase, noted on your member dashboard; the system automatically submits at that hour whatever was the latest edit of selections entered.
• To delete your entry choose "View My Entries" for options to edit and delete.
• Dates and Times for entry and voting are displayed on your member dashboard and based on the timezone set in your member profile. Check that this is set correctly by choosing "Edit My Profile" at the very bottom is the timezone option. Click "Save" when finished.
• You may submit a maximum of 6 images. These images can be spread over any or all of the categories.
• Each image is to be sized 1600 pixels on the long side maximum at 72 dpi. Cropping within these dimensions is at the discretion of the participant.
• A title and description is required.
• Images must be in 24-bit JPEG format (RGB, 8 bits per channel).
• Images in CMYK cannot be displayed in the competition even if accepted by the Website. It is the member's responsibility to verify uploaded images display in their preview submission screen and ensure images have been converted to a RGB profile.
• You cannot enter the same or similar image into more than one category at a time.
• The Competition Entry form will stop you from entering more than 6 images with a notification in the submission window. You can also review your submission details by clicking View My Entries.

Image Viewing and Voting

• Once the voting phase is open, members can view the galleries multiple times. The gallery default is to view all entries; however you may select each individual category from a drop down list. It is recommended you judge each category on its own rather than an all in one approach. This is at the discretion of the voter.
• Navigation through the images is accomplished by clicking on the forward/back arrows on the page. If you would like to view an image larger click on the image to open it. When done, close the lightbox and vote on the image.
• Members will rate EACH image in each category on a star scale from 1 to 7 as per the historic Print Competition. Members will not be required to complete the voting in one session, but can return multiple times during the open judging period.
• Your vote can be changed at any time up until the end of the voting phase.
• The database will calculate the scoring and determine Best of Show and 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th in each category
• Best of Show is calculated as the highest points awarded (most popular image of the competition) by the voting regardless of category (eligible categories being, Sports Actions, Sports Features, People & Portraits, Campus Environment, News & Campus Life, Features & Illustrations, Science & Research). Once selected it is removed from it's scoring category and the remaining images in that category move up by one position, and are awarded 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th places accordingly.

Paying for Entries

• You can make payment after you complete the entry process either by credit card, debit card, or check.
• If pay by check send checks to the address on the invoice. 

Point Totals and Awards

• Honor scoring images (Best of Show, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th) will be the only ones to accumulate point totals.
• Acrylic awards are given for Best of Show, and 1st through 5th in each category.
• Awards will be presented during the Awards Banquet at the Annual Symposium.

Updated 8/12/20