Salon Competition Rules

General Rules:

  1. Entrants must be Crosstown Camera Club members in good standing.
  2. Monthly salon competitions will alternate between Prints (Color and Monochrome) and Digital. There will be four print salons and four digital salons at regular club meetings. The board will determine the order of the salons.
  3. Each salon will consist of a “Topic” category an “Open” category and a “Critique-Only” category. The Topic category is the subject matter designated annually by the salon committee. The Open category is any subject matter that does not fit into the Topic category. The judge for each salon has the final decision as to what will be in each category.
  4. The purpose of the “Critique-Only” category is to have photographs critiqued by our judges without entering into the direct salon competition. Critique-Only photographs do not receive any kind of score. The letter “C” is used for entry identification. Images and prints that were critiqued in this category may be submitted later in the regular Topic and Open categories. The purpose of the Critique-Only category is education, not competition.
  5. Each member may submit up to three photographs in each salon, dividing them between the Open and Topic categories as they wish. Members may also divide their entries between color and monochrome prints (digital images are judged in one category only).
  6. Competition prints must be submitted to the Edina Art Center (EAC) CCC drop off area by 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, the week prior to the Salon.
  7. Competition digital images must be submitted as email attachments sent to digitalsalon@crosstowncameraclub.com by midnight Tuesday, the week prior to the Salon. Please make sure your emailer is NOT resizing your images when you send them by emailing yourself a test image prior to sending your competition images.
  8. Judges shall award points ranging from 5 to 10 for each entry. A competitor will receive 5 additional points to encourage submitting at least one entry judged on topic.
  9. Any photograph entered will be judged according to three basic criteria: TECHNIQUE, COMPOSITION, and IMPACT.
  10. Any entry receiving an 8,9, or 10 is deemed an Acceptance, and is eligible for final salon competition at the Awards Banquet in June. Acceptances are ineligible for future competition in this club.
  11. Points are accumulated throughout the competition year (September through May) and the three top scorers in each of the divisions (Monochrome Prints, Color Prints, Digital Images) will be recognized at the Awards Banquet in June. “Competitor of the Year” will be awarded to the person with the highest accumulated score overall score in all divisions. “Rookie Competitor of the Year” is awarded to a first-year member with the highest accumulated score overall in all divisions.
  12. The following three pieces of information are required for each entry:
      NUMBER: your CCC Competition Number (not your name). This number can be found on your Membership Card. Entries with names or other image-maker identification such as Copyright Watermark, etc. will be disqualified.
      TITLE: a descriptive title for the photograph.
      CATEGORY: indicate whether the entry is Topic, Open or Critique Only.
  13. Titles are for identification — for yourself, and for those who keep club records. Judges don’t always pay much attention to them. Use description instead of commentary (e.g. “Mike on a Bike” instead of “Will He Make It?”). Calling a photograph “Untitled” risks confusion in club records and later in your own memory.

Select from the following for detailed information about

The Print and Digital Committees will interpret and apply these rules at each club salon and have the right to reject any entry not properly presented or labeled.

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Digital Salon Rules:

Digital images must be submitted as email attachments sent to digitalsalon@crosstowncameraclub.com by midnight Tuesday, the week prior to the Salon.

How to Prepare Your Digital Images for Competition:

  • All digital images shall be the result of an initial exposure by the competitor. Images may be captured either using a digital camera or scanned from slides or negatives.
  • All digital images must be labeled with a CATEGORY (Topic, Open or Critique), competitor’s NUMBER and TITLE in the filename. Entries with a competitor’s name or other image-maker identification such as Copyright Watermark, etc. will be disqualified.
  • Digital images may be entered in either of the Topic or Open divisions but to a maximum of three images TOTAL per member per salon.
  • In addition to Topic or Open category entries, new members may enter up to three Critique-Only category images per salon. Members that have belonged to the club for 1 year or more may enter one Critique-Only category image per salon.
  • Digital images shall be 1280 pixels on the longest side.
  • Image file type must be JPEG.

Filenames for digital entries should appear as follows:

  • File name must be a total 22 characters or less (no spaces or illegal characters allowed). The file name should contain the following four items:
  • T for the salon topic, O for the open category or C for the critique category.
  • NUMBER: your CCC Competition Number (not your name). This number can be found on your Membership Card. Entries with names will be disqualified.
  • TITLE: a concise descriptive title for the image (no longer than 12 characters).
  • .jpg

Examples:

  • O.691.TheBird.jpg (Open entry)
  • T.691.TheCat.jpg (Topic Entry)
  • C.691.TheMouse.jpg (Critique entry)

Additional Notes:

  • Always make a copy of your final image and resize and orient properly for viewing (horizontally or vertically) your duplicate prior to emailing.
  • Use maximum/100 image quality when saving image using the Save for Web method, or use Maximum/12 when using the Image Save method
  • Titles are for identification – for yourself, and for those who keep club records. Judges don’t always pay much attention to them. Use description instead of commentary (e.g. “MikeOnABike” instead of “WillHeMakeIt”). Calling a photograph “Untitled” risks confusion in club records and later, in your own memory.

The Print and Digital Committees will interpret and apply these rules at each club salon and have the right to reject any entry not properly presented or labeled.

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Print Salon Rules:

Competition prints must be submitted to the Edina Art Center (EAC) CCC drop off area by 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, the week prior to the Salon.

How to Prepare Your Prints for Competition:

  • All prints shall be the results of an initial exposure by the competitor. All other processing may be commercially done, if desired.
  • Matting is encouraged but not required. No frames are allowed.
  • A TITLE, CATEGORY (Topic, Open or Critique), competitor’s NUMBER, and DIVISION entered (Monochrome or Color) must appear on the back top left side of the matte board. Entries with a competitor’s name will be disqualified.
  • Prints may be entered in either of the Topic or Open divisions but to a maximum of three prints TOTAL per member per salon.
  • In addition to Topic or Open category entries, new members may enter up to three Critique-Only category prints per salon. Members that have belonged to the club for 1 year or more may enter one Critique-Only category print per salon.
  • Prints shall be no smaller than 15 square inches (3″ x 5″) and no larger than 320 square inches (16″ x 20″). Prints must be mounted on matte board no smaller than 80 square inches (8″ x 10″) and no larger than 320 square inches (16″ x 20″).

The following four pieces of information are required for entry and should appear in the top left corner on the back side of the matte board:

  1. NUMBER: your CCC Competition Number (not your name). This number can be found on your Membership Card. Entries with names and/or signs of previous competition will be disqualified.
  2. TITLE: a descriptive title for the photograph
  3. TOPIC: indicating a Topic category entry. OPEN: indicating an Open category entry. CRITIQUE: indicating a Critique-Only category entry.
  4. MONOCHROME -or- COLOR

Additional Notes:

  • Mounting your print on still board or foam board is recommended. You can use spray adhesive, double-coated tape, Scotch Mounting Adhesive or heat mounting.
  • Titles are for identification – for yourself, and for those who keep club records. Judges don’t always pay much attention to them. Use description instead of commentary (e.g. “Mike on a Bike” instead of “Will He Make It”). Calling a photograph “Untitled” risks confusion in club records and later, in your own memory.

The Print and Digital Committees will interpret and apply these rules at each club salon and have the right to reject any entry not properly presented or labeled.