Thursday, 11 March 2010

Info

PAGB Awards for Photographic Merit

THE AWARDS

The awards are open to all members of Clubs affiliated to the PAGB through their Federations and are at three levels:

Credit (CPAGB)		Blue badge and certificate
Distinction (DPAGB)		Red badge and certificate
Master (MPAGB)		Gold badge and certificate

They are held for life without any annual fee and holders are entitled to use the designated letters after their name.

Qualification

All applicants must pre-qualify in accordance with their Federations's criteria as having supported Federation photographic events - see below.

Credit of The Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (CPAGB)

The standard is that of 'Good Club Photography'.
The entry fee is £50.00.
10 Projectable Digital Images (PDIs) or 10 Prints are required and a total score of 200 or more will gain the award.
For Audio Visual 11 or more sequences with a total running time of 10 to 15 minutes are required or, for a Joint Submission, 2 or more sequences with a running time 20 to 30 minutes. A total score of 10 or more will gain the award.

Distinction of The Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (DPAGB)

Subject to qualification, application can be made for the DPAGB Award without first gaining the CPAGB
The standard is that of 'Open Exhibition Photography'.
The entry fee is £60.00.
15 Projectable Digital Images (PDIs) or 15 Prints are required and a total score of 300 or more will gain the award.
For Audio Visual, 2 or more sequences with a total running time of 15 to 20 minutes are required or, for a Joint Submission, 4 or more sequences with a running time 30 to 40 minutes. A total score of 10 or more will gain the award.

Master of The Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (MPAGB)

Applicants for MPAGB must have held the DPAGB Award for 11 months on the date of the adjudication and have gained a further 10 points in this time
The standard is that of 'The Highest Standard of Amateur Photography'.
The entry fee is £65.00.
20 Projectable Digital Images (PDIs) or 20 Prints are required and a total score of 450 or more will gain the award.
For Audio Visual 3 or more sequences with a total running time of 20 to 30 minutes are required or, for a Joint Submission, 6 or more sequences with a running time 40 to 50 minutes. A unanimous decision by the Adjudicators with a total score of 12 or more will gain the Award.

ADJUDICATIONS

Adjudications are open to spectators. Entrants receive one free ticket. Further tickets may be purchased from the organising federation.

Adjudication Method

Adjudication will be carried out by 6 persons selected from the PAGB Judges List. Each print and slide will be scored electronically (2 to 5) by each adjudicator but only the total score for each photograph will be announced.

Pictures will not be presented as panels but will be mixed and judged as individual images. Prints may be unmounted or mounted but not framed. The maximum size including mount is 50 x 40 cm. Mounts to be lightweight of a type that will not damage other prints when stacked. Velcro or any similar material must not be on either side of prints. The title may be on the front of the print but not the applicant's name.

Prints & PDIs for use at future Adjudications

All successful applicants will be requested to loan a print or slide that scored in the passing range. These will be used prior to the appropriate level at future adjudications to show the standard of entry in the passing range. Prints will be returned on request after one year, enabling them to be used for two adjudications; PDIs will be copied by the PAGB & the original returned as soon as possible

Audio Visual

Adjudication will be carried out by 3 persons selected from the PAGB AV Judges List and each applicant's sequences will be shown consecutively then scored as a whole by each adjudicator marking 2 to 5. Only the total score will be announced. The applicant's name/s must not appear anywhere in the production, (See the guidance notes for Joint Applications)

Guidance Notes for Joint AV Applications

Joint applications are permitted in AV and ideally both partners would contribute equally to all aspects of the programmes submitted. This seldom happens, applicants must decide whether this is so far from the ideal that in reality one partner is acting as an assistant to the other rather than working jointly.

Applications will still be considered to be joint where:

One partner does more work than the other. The absolute limit would be two thirds/one third but the Adjudication panel would view such a large proportion with disfavour. An application cannot be considered to be joint where one partner is clearly dominant.
The roles of the two partners are more clearly defined. No general rules can be laid down but examples include:
1. Conception worked out jointly, one partner takes all the photographs, the other writes the script and both are involved in the sound recording and presentation.
2. Conception by one partner, both take the photographs, one partner does the recording, the other the script and both work on the presentation.

Where one partner is involved only on one component part of the entry this is held to be Assistance or collaboration and cannot be a joint submission.

The adjudication will require details of all these matters. Applicants should remember that it is generally harder to gain an award jointly than individually; for a joint application both partners pay the full entry fee.

GUIDANCE NOTES

APPLYING FOR CERTIFICATES OF ELIGIBILITY

Pre-Qualification

The PAGB requires that all applicants for the Awards for Photographic Merit pre-qualify in accordance with their Federation’s criteria. These Guidance Notes set out the EAF’s criteria for pre-qualification and describe the procedure for applying for Certificates of Eligibility which must be forwarded to the PAGB prior to the submission of an entry for the Awards.

Applicants should note that the EAF is not judging the photographic merit of any submission or assessing the applicant’s ability to meet the standard required for any of the Awards. The EAF only certifies that the applicant has supported the Federation. Support is determined by the participation in events, seminars, exhibitions, judging and lecturing. The EAF’s criteria for each Award are set out below.

Credit (CPAGB)

1 Event Attendance - Print, Slide or PDI		Any 2 per year for any 2 years in the last 10 years
1 Exhibition Entry
1 Judges Workshop
1 Judging Assignment
1 Lecture

Distinction (DPAGB)

1 Event Attendance - Print, Slide or PDI		Any 2 per year for any 3 years in the last 10 years
1 Exhibition Entry
1 Judges Workshop
1 Judging Assignment
1 Lecture

Master (MPAGB)

Applicants cannot apply for this Award unless the Distinction (DPAGB) award has been gained.

1 Event Attendance - Print, Slide or PDI		Any 2 per year for any 5 years in the last 10 years
1 Exhibition Entry
1 Judges Workshop
1 Judging Assignment
1 Lecture

Entry to the annual Club Slide Competition (which follows the AGM each year) is NOT a qualifying event as entries are by club rather than individuals. Events may include judging and lecturing provided the applicant was active in this fields during the year.

Audio Visual and Joint Applications

For Audio Visual submissions the PAGB are prepared to consider joint applications. The EAF requires that each partner proposing to make a joint submission satisfies fully the EAF’s criteria.

The EAF recognises that some AV workers may not exhibit in prints or PDIs so may have some difficulty in satisfying the above criteria for DPGB and MPAGB. AV workers who cannot satisfy the points criteria should send to the Awards Officer a statement setting out their support for Club, Federation and National events. It is emphasised that it is support, rather than demonstration of ability, which is important. Examples of support would include entry into competitions, lecturing to Clubs and at Federation events, judging, providing equipment at events etc. To satisfy the PAGB’s requirements support will need to be demonstrated over a period of 2 years for CPAGB, 3 years for DPAGB and 5 years for MPAGB. Applicants for MPAGB must already hold DPAGB.

Other Federations

Applicants who have joined the EAF from another Federation and who have partially met the requirements of that Federation should write to the Awards Officer including details of the other Federation’s scheme and evidence of their partial compliance with that scheme. The Awards Officer will then be able to advise what further support is required for EAF events to obtain a Certificate of Eligibility.

How to Apply

Applicants should complete the appropriate application form (click here to download) and have it countersigned by two officers of his/her club or society. The completed application form, together with a stamped addressed envelope, should be forwarded to:

The EAF Awards Officer
Andy Hanson ARPS MPAGB APAGB
16 Meadowlands
Burwell, Cambs.
CB5 0HG
(01638 741106)

If the application clearly satisfies the EAF’s criteria then the Awards Officer will issue the PAGB form with the Certificate of Eligibility. This form must then be sent to the PAGB Distinctions Secretary/Tresurer (the address is on the form). Thereafter all administration of the entry and adjudication is handled by the PAGB.

Dates and Deadlines

The adjudication of prints and PDIs will be held on a weekend in April and November each year, over two days if there is sufficient demand. Closing dates for applications to the PAGB are:

28th February
30th September

The adjudication of Audio Visual will be held on a weekend in March each year. The closing date for applications to the PAGB is:

31st January

Applicants are advised to make their entries in good time and to allow ample time for the EAF Awards Officer to process their applications for Certificates of Eligibility. This will normally be done as quickly as possible but at holiday times etc. may take several weeks. Occasionally it may be necessary to refer an application to the EAF Executive in which case the Awards Officer will advise the applicant of this.