Rules for Judges

SYRACUSE CAMERA CLUB MONTHLY COMPETITIONS

1. Any questions a judge may have will be gladly answered by the judges; chairperson or co-chairperson.

2. Judging is on an in and out basis. Brief comments on the outs. Comments on the ins should be reserved until they are finally out or are among the winners. (This is because of our very large competitions and limited time.)

3. All prints and slides must be judged on their individual merits alone - even if this means picking as a first, second, third, and H.M. place, pictures of same or similar subject matter. The best pictures in the competition are the winners regardless of subject matter in an open competition.

4. No picture is to be out because this subject has been done before many times, or "I've seen this so many times before." It is out only if it cannot compete with other pictures in the competition which in the judge's mind are better.

5. The judge in his final selection may have the choice, in the case of prints, of lining up the final few choices to view them together for the final choice of winners, or he may run through them as before as many times as he sees fit.

6. The judge may move in for a closer look at the prints but may not touch them. It is preferred that prints not be laid down on a table for final judging, but they should be held up so that members may watch the final selection.

7. Having once made his selections of winners, the judge cannot make changes, such as taking a named winner out from the winning group and replacing it with another that had been called an "out" or which had not placed.

8. Judges are encouraged to announce winners in descending order from first place to honorable mention.

FOR CLOSED COMPETITIONS ONLY

Attention must be paid to the subject matter in that it conforms strictly to the category of the closed competition. Any other subject must be disqualified immediately. This disqualification should be done by the print and slide chairperson when they are handed in, but, in the event that it passes them unnoticed, it must be disqualified when it comes up for viewing by the judge's chairperson or co-chairperson. If the judge has not disqualified it, and in the event that the photographer challenges the decision of the print or slide chairperson, a final decision will be made by a group consisting of the print and slide chairpersons and the president or acting president.

NOTE: THESE RULES WERE DESIGNED TO GIVE A FAIR JUDGING TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE CLUB AND, AT THE SAME TIME, MAKE IT EASIER FOR THE JUDGE TO MAKE DECISIONS AND HAVE A GOOD ALL-AROUND COMPETITION.