Re-Sending post about competition changes.

Hi All,
It has been pointed out to me that some members have not seen the post outlining the changes that are being implemented, therefore I’m re-sending it. See below.

IMPORTANT CHANGES TO COMPETITION JUDGING

At our committee meeting on Monday we had extensive discussions about our competitions and how we have been instructing the judges in regards to the judging. We made a decision to make changes to this process that we believe will be for the better for both the judges and the members.

We will be implementing the changes starting with our March competition

These changes and the reasons for them are outlined below.

Digital.

For some time now we have been receiving feedback from numerous members that they feel the judging of the digitals has been quite different from the judging of the prints even though it is the same judge.

Many members believe that the judges are favouring the prints when awarding awards and not giving the digitals as much merit.

One reason for this that has been suggested is that the judges might see our digital competition as separate from our print competition as is the case with some other clubs. 
As we all know, in our club they are both just two different formats for the one competition

Changes being implemented:

• Firstly, what won’t change is that you’ll still upload your digitals two weeks prior to competition night. The judge will still have access to view the digitals two weeks prior to the competition night so they’ll have time to decide on any comments and awards in advance.

• The biggest change will be that we will no longer require the judge to enter the awards on the website. Rather, they will just make a note of which images they wish to give awards to and they will announce these awards during the slideshow on competition night. 
  It’ll be my job to make note of these awards and enter them on the website after the meeting as I do for the print awards.
  The slideshow will be presented in the same order that we get our prints judged (colour, then mono and then set subject), and the awards in each category will be announced as we go through, just like we do for the prints.
  As with the print judging we will be asking our judges to announce any Judges Choice awards at the end of each section.

• Written comments by the judge will no longer be required. As all our judges still make comments verbally on the night during the slideshow, we have made the decision that we will not require the judges to do the extra work of making written comments as well as this is really doubling their workload.  Rather, judge’s comments will be made verbally on the night.  
  Taking this extra workload away from the judges will make it a lot easier to recruit judges in the future.
  Members who are not able to attend on the night for various reasons can ask another member to make a note of comments made by the judge and pass these comments onto them.

Print.

There will also be a slight change with our print competitions on the night.

We will no longer be displaying the title of the image on the front of the print.
We have made this decision to be consistent with many other clubs and international competitions.
It will also ensure that the images are always judged on their photographic merit rather than the name of the images which has occasionally happened.

The schedule on our comp night will run as follows:

To ensure that we fit all of this in smoothly in the time frame that the club gives us we will be instructing the judges of the following schedule.

• 6:30 PM prints will be on the stands for judges to have time for a preliminary viewing.
• 7 pm our competition night will begin. There will usually be a few announcements before the print judging commences.
• 8 pm our print judging will be completed and we will have a 15 minute tea/coffee break with a chance to discuss any questions arising after the print judging.
• 8:15 pm our digital slideshow and announcement of our digital awards will begin. 
• 9 pm we will need to be finished and commence packing up. Unfortunately the club requires us to leave by 9:30 pm as they close then. It is a shame that we have these time restrictions as often we feel we need more time, but we have to follow the directive of the club.