During the club year (September through May), NVPS will sponsor nine monthly competitions. For a monthly competition in a Class/Category to occur there must be at least three entrants and at least four images submitted. When there are not enough entrants for a competition, even if there are enough entries, the judge shall comment on the image(s) and the image(s) will be given one point each for participation, but no award points.

Only Club members are eligible to enter competitions. The total number of images each member may enter in any one monthly competition is limited to three (3); no more than two (2) of these entries may be submitted in any single Category in the class in which they are eligible. All entries must have been photographed by the entrant and must satisfy the definition of photograph in Section II-A. Plagiarism will result in disqualification of the image. All entries must be submitted prior to the start of the competition for the Category/Class in which it is being entered and must not, in the opinion of the Vice President for Competitions, interfere with the process of preparing a competition Class/Category for judging. Entrants should strive to submit their entries prior to the start of the meeting.

Subject matter, theme, and artistic presentation are the choice of the photographer. However three of the monthly competitions will have an assigned topic or theme. All competitions except for one non-themed competition per club year ("oldies" competition) will have a two year image capture time constraint. The Vice President for Competitions will announce in advance which monthly competition will not be subject to any time constraint for image capture. On competitions with time constraints, all elements of competition entries must have been captured within two years of the monthly competition date. The President shall appoint a committee to define the themes two (2) years in advance. The themes will be published in Fotofax, the club newsletter, no later than the Summer issue and will also be posted on the club's web site at that time. A single image can be entered in only one Category/Class in a given Club year and can be entered no more than three times within that Category/Class within the year. For example, if you have a digital image and make a print from it, you must decide for a given club year whether to compete with it as a digital projected image or as a print. Once an image has received an award (first, second, or third place, or honorable mention) it may not be entered in subsequent monthly competitions in the same Category/Class for that year or any other year with the exception of the end-of-year competition. Additionally, a similar photograph of the same image that has received an award may not be submitted in any Category/Class during the current competition year. An image that has won an award may be entered in a different Category/Class in a subsequent year.

All prints must be mounted. Prints and mounts may not exceed 20 inches in height and 40 inches in width to accommodate the light stand. A mount may contain more than one print, but all prints on the mount will be judged as one entry. Entries will not be eligible for competitions if they are framed, have attached hardware, or could, in the opinion of the Vice President for Competitions, cause damage to other prints. The name of the maker, the title of the print, and the Class/Category in which it is being entered must appear on the back of the print or mount, along with an arrow that indicates "this edge up". Neither the name of the maker nor the title of the print may appear on the face of the print or mount.

All Digitally Projected Images must adhere to the applicable rules in Section II. In addition, images for the Digitally Projected Categories/Classes must be provided in advance of the competition date. A separate set of guidelines that provides standards for the size, format, and submission procedures to be used for digital competitions will be maintained by the Vice-President for Competitions.

During the judging, audience members must not make comments to the judge concerning the images being displayed. Any questions may be brought to the attention of the Vice President for Competitions who, at his/her discretion, may bring the question to the attention of the judge. The decisions of the judge and Vice President for Competitions shall be final.

Photographs shall include images obtained using a light capturing process. The capture may be done by a film or digital camera; or by scanners and similar light-capturing devices.

B.1. Color Prints Category

The Color Prints category shall include photographic images printed with either chemical darkroom techniques or with ink jet or other printers commonly used with personal computers or directly with digital cameras. The printing may be done either by the entrant him-/herself or by a commercial facility.

The image must have been created by the entrant and it must comply with the definition of a Photograph as described in Section II-A. No manipulation restrictions/criteria apply to the Color Prints category.

B.2. Monochrome Prints Category

All elements of the image must have been created by the entrant and the origin of the all components must comply with the definition of a Photograph as described in Section II-A.

This category includes images that are submitted as digital projections rather than prints. Otherwise, the definition of this category is the same as the Color Print Category.

Novice Class = Entrants who are inexperienced in photography

Advanced Class = Entrants who are more experienced photographers

New members to NVPS are encouraged to consult with the Vice President for Competitions prior to entering their first competition if they have questions about which class they might best compete in. That class determination applies to all categories.

Any member may elect to exhibit in the Advanced Class. Upon doing so, however, the member shall be permanently ineligible to compete in the Novice Class for all Categories with 2 classes. The only exception, accidental entry into an Advanced Class, is explained in detail in Section IV-C.

Promotion for the following year is calculated at the end of current year of competition. Promotion is automatic if, during any previous club year, a member competed in the Novice Class and

The calculation is:
# of entrants promoted to Advanced = (total # of Novices in Category during the year) × (.15)

Example: (30 entrants in Novice Restricted Color Prints) × (.15) = 4.5

The resulting number, rounded down to the nearest integer, is the number of entrants moved to the Advanced Class for that category. In the example above, the 4 entrants with the highest cumulative points would be promoted to the Advanced Color Prints class for the next competition year. If they are promoted to Advanced, they are "Advanced" in all categories.

Novice Class entries may be re-entered for competition in the Advanced Class in a subsequent year.

Awards In each Class/Category for which a monthly competition is held, the following awards will be made:

Digital and print competition points will be awarded to all members who enter digital images or prints, as follows:

At times an entrant may not be sure if they have chosen the technically-correct category for their submission (per the definitions in Section II). It is the entrant's responsibility to discuss their choice with the Vice President for Competitions before competition begins. Failure to have this discussion may, at the option of the Vice President, result in disqualification of the image.

If a Novice inadvertently enters a print or Digital Image in the Advanced Class, the Novice can request that the image be eliminated or any awards refused and still preserve his/her Novice status. Otherwise, the entrant will be placed in the Advanced Class for all Categories with 2 classes from that time forward.

Any member who submits more than the maximum allowed total entries in any month's competition (see Section I-C) forfeits ALL points for that month.

All entries from the monthly competitions receiving at least an honorable mention are eligible for the end-of-year competition. Rules for monthly competitions apply, except that submissions will take place as prescribed by the Vice President for Competitions. Judging will take place in a separate location. Competitors may enter all of their award winners for the year, and results will be available at the end-of-year banquet.

These Awards shall be given to the photographer in each Class/Category who has accumulated the most points during the competition year in that Class/Category. In the event of a tie in the number of points, the award shall be shared.

Two Versatile Photographer of the Year awards--Novice and Advanced--shall be given to the club members who have accumulated the highest number of total points from all competition Categories.

Winners must have received at least one award in each of the three Categories (now Color Prints, Digital Images, and Monochrome Prints).

Should two (2) or more photographers have the same number of points, then each of those photographers shall all be awarded Versatile Photographer of the Year.