Southport Photographic Society 78th National Open Exhibition

Welcome to Southport Photographic Society,

78th National Open Exhibition

Staged with the patronage of British Photographic Exhibitions, Crown Awards & Distinctions, and the patronage of the Photographic Alliance GB. 

The PAGB Certificate of Patronage is No 2025-0010.

As a member of British Photographic Exhibitions, acceptances gained will count towards the BPE Crown awards, see www.britishphotographicexhibitions.org.uk for further details.

Welcome to the 78th Annual National Exhibition of Photography organised by Southport Photographic Society. Once again the selection process will be ‘live’ with all the three selectors in the same room viewing a single image. Following its success during the Covid period we are introducing a seventh class this year, Scapes PDI.

We shall be displaying our Exhibition at The Atkinson, Lord St, Southport from 15th to 29th March 2025. We look forward to receiving your Print and PDI entries across all seven classes and wish you every success.

Penny Price  LRPS CPAGB

If you have any queries regarding an entry or any other aspect of the exhibition please contact: exhibition@southportphotographic.co.uk

Southport Photographic Society

78th National Open Exhibition

Table of Contents

Open Exhibition Classes and Selectors

Fees, Print Requirement and Delivery

Timescales

Exhibition Venues

Awards

Terms and Conditions

Results, Catalogues and Reproduction

Data Privacy

PAGB Patronage Certificate

Open Exhibition Classes and Selectors

Classes

Prints - A3 Unmounted

• Open Monochrome
• Open Colour
• Nature

Projected Digital Images (PDI)

• Open Monochrome
• Open Colour
• Nature
• Scapes

Selectors

Open Monochrome and Colour

Ralph Duckett MPAGB EFIAP APAGB

Nick Hilton DPAGB FIAP/B BPE5

Carol McNivenYoung FRPS EFIAP/g ABPE EPAGB AWPF

Nature and Scapes

Sandie Cox ARPS DPAGB EFIAP/s

Ralph Snook EFIAP/s DPAGB ARPS

Ian Whiston DPAGB EFIAP/p FBPE MPSA

Selection Process

The selections will be “live”, with all three selectors together, using a 2-5 scoring system.

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Fees, Print Requirement and Delivery  

Fees for the Open Exhibition

Please enter online via our website.

Our preferred method of payment is by PayPal. 

Cheques, made payable to SPS Exhibition, are acceptable and should be posted to the Exhibition Administrator at the address below (see Print Delivery).  If sent with prints, the Packing List should be endorsed ‘Cheque Enclosed’.

Fees are per entrant.  Entry fee for the Open Exhibition is £8.00 for the first four entries, in any mix. Each additional image is £1.50.

Please read our terms and conditions.

Print Requirement and Delivery

We will only accept unmounted prints and they must be on A3 size paper (420m x 297m) in any orientation with the image any size.  Prints may be returned, if requested, for a fee of £7.50. 

(Please also see the notes under ‘Prints and PDIs)  

Prints that are not returned will be destroyed after the exhibition.  

The title on the back of the print must match the title on the Entry Form, using only a pressure sensitive (small self-adhesive) label placed in the bottom left hand corner.  

Remember to print out your entry form from PhotoExhib software and enclose it with your print package.

Prints should be posted to our Exhibition Administrator to arrive no later than 04th January 2025:

Mr Kit Robinson LRPS
12 Dunes Drive
Formby
Liverpool L37 1PF

Arrangements have been made with Wilkinson Cameras who will receive boxed prints for forwarding to Kit Robinson up to and including 30th December 2024 from any of their stores. Please see their website, https://www.wilkinson.co.uk/stores/ for locations.

Please note: entries without the correct fees will not be judged and a catalogue will not be sent.

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Timescales  

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Exhibition Venues

The Opening Ceremony and Presentation of Prizes will be held at:

New Hall
Emmanuel Church
Cambridge Road
Southport
Merseyside
PR9 9PR

On Monday 17th March 2025.  Doors open at 19:15 for prompt start of 19:45

Please note that due to size of entry we may have to show the classes over two evenings.  The second evening will be via zoom on Wednesday 19th March 2025.  Zoom will open at 19:30 for prompt start at 19:45. This will be advised on our website, www.southportphotographic.co.uk.

Projection of the accepted images will be made available at selected venues, to be advised.

Prints awarded Gold, Silver, Bronze, Selectors’ Medals, PAGB and BPE Ribbons and SPS Certificates will be displayed at:

The Atkinson
Lord Street
Southport
PR8 1DB

Accepted prints will also be displayed in a portfolio at the Atkinson.

Slideshows of the PDI Exhibition will also be displayed on TV screens at the Atkinson.

The Exhibition opens on 15th March 2025 and will be open until 29th March 2025.  Please refer to the Atkinson’s website for opening times, www.theatkinson.co.uk.

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Awards

The Society will award PAGB Medals, PAGB Ribbons, BPE Ribbons, Selector’s Medals and SPS Certificates in each class as follows:

There will be a minimum of 126 awards

Margaret Suddaby Memorial Trophy

Awarded for the highest aggregate score of acceptances by any one entrant in the National Open Exhibition across all classes.  This is open to entrants who are not members of Southport Photographic Society.

Awards in the Open Exhibition for Members of Southport Photographic Society

The trophies will be engraved with the winner’s name and presented at the Exhibition Opening Ceremony.  The Margaret Suddaby Memorial Trophy awarded to a non-Southport Photographic Society member will be retained by the Society after the Opening Ceremony unless special arrangements are made.  Please contact the Exhibition Adminstrator for further details if required: email: exhibition@southportphotographic.co.uk

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Terms and Conditions

Please note we have changed and added new conditions and rules this year.

Please read and understand all the conditions of entry, particularly if you are entering images in the Nature class. If you have any query or require further clarification please contact the Exhibition Administrator: exhibition@southportphotographic.co.uk.    

The 78th Southport Photographic Society Exhibition has patronage from the British Photographic Exhibitions (BPE) and the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB) (2025-010).  Any reference to the Society or SPS refers to Southport Photographic Society.  

• The utmost care will be taken of all work, but the Society cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage.
• Entries are accepted from United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle-of-Man and BFPO residents only.
• Accepted prints will be exhibited, as described on the page ‘Exhibition Venues’, except for images considered not suitable for public display.
• Please enter your name using upper and lower case letter and ensure honours are in capital letters as this will be how it will be displayed in the catalogue.
• You may enter up to FOUR images in each class.  
  • Digital images can be either landscape or portrait orientation and image size should be: maximum 1600 pixels horizontally and/or 1200 pixels vertically.  Images must be JPEG format with preferred sRGB colour space and should not exceed 2MB. 
  • Prints to be unmounted on A3 paper (297x420mm) in any orientation with the image any size.  The title on the back of the print must match the title on the Entry Form, using only a pressure sensitive (small self-adhesive) label placed on the bottom left hand corner of the reverse of the print.  On request images may be returned for a fee or they will be destroyed after the exhibition.  
• Images accepted in a previous SPS Exhibition are not permitted.
• An image, or similar image, may not be entered in more than one class.
• For the purpose of these rules, the Society reserves the right to consider the image to be the same as one already used, if, regardless of title or medium, it is so similar to another as to be almost identical.
• The original image/images must have been made by the entrant using the photographic process, who must also own the copyright of all elements in the work. - See note on AI.
• Images must not display any visible identification of the entrant, club or photographic association or federation.
• You must enter under your own name, aliases are not permitted.
• In the Monochrome Class, a black and white image modified by the addition of a single tone over the entire image is eligible.  An image modified by toning part of the image or adding a colour to part of the image is not permitted and should be entered in the colour section.
• Except in the Nature class, any process may be used to produce the final image provided they are within the rules regarding AI.
• Nature images should have a factual descriptive title.  Poetic titles are not permitted.
• Entrants submitting images in all classes must be able to supply, if requested, the original native camera RAW file, transparency or negative to authenticate the image.  We may request a RAW file at any time before, during or after the exhibition.  DNG files are not suitable unless they are the only native RAW file format available from the camera.  EXIF data should be kept intact.
• It is the responsibility of the entrant to comply with these Terms and Conditions.  Submission of an entry is taken as acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
• An image found not to comply with these Terms and Conditions, whether before, during or after this Exhibition, may be disqualified.  Any award that may have been given to a subsequently disqualified image shall be revoked.  No refund will be made.
• The Society reserves the right to exclude an entrant from future Exhibitions who has submitted an image that has been disqualified.
• The Society reserves the right to refuse an entry in its entirety, in which case the entry fee will be refunded.
• In the event that an image is rejected or disqualified then the BPE and the PABG will be informed as appropriate.

Monochrome 

Monochrome images include:

• An image in tones of neutral grey ranging from transparent/white to opaque/black.
• An image in a single colour: - a digitally produced image ‘colourised’ in a single hue.

Nature 

Nature means images where living organisms are the primary subject matter.  The story telling value of an image will normally be weighed more than the pictorial quality.  

Nature includes:

• Images taken with subjects in controlled conditions such as zoos, game parks, botanic gardens, aquariums and enclosures where the subjects are dependent on man for food.  Scientific bands, tags or collars are permissible.
• Images entered as Nature can have landscape, geologic formations, and weather phenomena as the primary subject matter  

Nature excludes:

• Images where the subjects are obviously domestic animals, cultivated plants or humans.
• Images where an obviously artistic treatment has been applied.
• Composite images; but see ‘focus stacking‘ and ‘HDR’ below.

Processing of the captured image, by cropping, exposure adjustment, colour correction, noise minimisation, dodging/burning, HDR, focus stacking and sharpening is permitted, as is cloning of image defects and minor distractions including overlapping elements.  

An image appearing to meet these criteria will be accepted as Nature.  The Judges will normally assume that any image presented to them is eligible.  

Access to some biological subjects may be restricted.  Where that is relevant, then photographers warrant that they have followed relevant codes of practice and hold any necessary licences.  

Scapes 

Any image depicting our physical environment - land, sea, sky, urban, rural - is acceptable. Images may range from scenic views of wild country to inner city. 

People and animals may be included in the scene as long as they are ancillary to and/or supportive of the main subject. 

Entries to this class are required to be from a ‘single image’. This means the entered image should be from a single exposure, or from multiple exposures taken at the same time and merged to work round camera limitations. Specifically, HDR, focus stacking and stitched panorama techniques are allowed. In-camera multiple exposures are also allowed.

AI

All types of creative-in-camera and post-production editing and manipulation is allowed.  This includes panoramic stitching, HDR, filters, multiple images or layers, artwork and computer graphics, as long as the original photographic content predominates and is the work solely of the photographer.  No third party clip-art images, textures or overlays are permitted.  

We accept that the use of ‘AI-based’ editing tools in image editors such as Photoshop is becoming increasingly prevalent in photographers’ workflows.  As a result, we do allow the use of these tools in Photoshop, Lightroom and similar editing programs, including noise reduction and sharpening, but with the following limitations.  

The use of tools like (but not limited to) Photoshop’s Remove and Generative Fill must be limited to a small area of the final image (no more than around 10% total area) and the resultant product of such tools much be akin to manipulating the image with a clone/stamp tool.  It is acceptable to remove minor distractions and/or extend the canvas in any direction by a small amount, filling the blank area sympathetically with the existing background.  The use of any tool which introduces a significant visual element which is not in your own source photographs is forbidden.  

Prints and Project Digital Images (PDI)  

• Entries must be submitted online via the SPS website under ‘Exhibition’.
• Digital images can be either landscape or portrait and image size to be maximum 1600 pixels horizontally and/or 1200 pixels vertically.  Images must be in JPEG format with the preferred colour space sRGB and should not exceed 2MB as they will be rejected by our PhotoExhib software.
• Image title must be the same as that entered on the entry form.  Please use titles as you wish them to appear on your image during selection and as you wish it to appear in the catalogue.  Also, avoid titles in all upper case and avoid symbols, hyphens and underlining since our PhotoExhib software may reject them.
• Prints to be unmounted on A3 (294 x 420mm) paper in any orientation with the printed image any size.  On requests prints may be returned if the return postage/delivery charges have been paid.  Please note, that whilst every care is taken before and during the selection process and in the preparation of the Exhibition, the Exhibition is not manned and takes place in an art gallery that is open to the public.  We cannot guarantee that the prints will be in a good condition when they are removed from the display panels.  Non-returned prints will be destroyed after the exhibition.  The title must be on the back of the print and must match the title on the Entry Form, using only pressure sensitive (small self-adhesive) label to be placed at the bottom left hand corner of the reverse of the print.  A print-out of your entry form from our PhotoExhib software must be enclosed in your print package.
• Any entries not complying with the above may be automatically changed by our viewing software to comply with these image specifications.  If this is not possible, the image may be rejected from the competition.

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Results, Catalogues and Reproduction

Results and Catalogues

Results will be notified by email.

The Exhibition Catalogue will be available for downloading online and also in a printed version which will be posted to entrants.  A large number of previous entrants have expressed their wish not to receive a hard copy.  With this in mind we have incorporated into the registration process a tick box for all entrants to opt-out of receiving a hard copy.  If you would be happy not to have a hard copy of the Exhibition Catalogue, please choose this option at registration.

Reproduction

Whilst copyright rests with the author, the Society reserves the right to use any entry, without fee, for publication and/or display in any media related to the exhibition.  The submission of an entry implies acceptance of the above condition.

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Data Privacy

Southport Photographic Society will hold the personal information provided by you to manage your entries and provide information to you about future events.   The Society does not pass this information to any third parties.  Please contact the Exhibition Administrator (email: exhibition@southportphotographic.co.uk) if you do not want this information to be retained after the end of the competition.  

Privacy Statement

Southport Photographic Society will hold the personal information provided by you during the registration process.  This information will be used by the Society and its authorised agents to:

• Administer the website.
• Manage your entries and provide information to you about future events.
• Enable your use of the services available on the website.

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PAGB Patronage Certificate