Rules and Guidelines
The annual appraised exhibition is for PRINTS ONLY. A digital jpeg file of each print entry is also required for the purposes of being projected alongside the print version at the appraisal evening and any other publicity of the society as the Management team see fit.
There are two entry categories, GENERAL (Print Open) and CHALLENGE (Print ‘Windswept and interesting’).
ELIGIBILITY – Entries will ONLY be accepted from fully paid up members of C&HVPS at the closing date for submission (see below). Eligible members may submit up to a MAXIMUM OF THREE ENTRIES each. All entries must have been taken after January 1st 2024.
Novice and inexperienced members are encouraged to submit their entries for appraisal although at this time no specific award will be given. The appraiser will be made aware of these entries prior to appraising the submissions and will be encouraged to offer supportive critique with inexperience in mind for the benefit of these members and their development.
Entries can be submitted into either category or can be split between the two. Entries may be colour or monochrome. ONLY the author is permitted to make alterations to the image in photo-editing software such as Photoshop.
PRINT SUBMISSIONS –Mounted prints can be submitted by the author in any size and format within the following constraints to allow artistic freedom and choice. Prints shall be displayed within a card mount which makes for an attractive exhibition and sizes below within the limitations of exhibition hanging space.
Prints can be any size to suit their subject and sized to be best displayed in a mount within the stated size range below.
Mounts must be White or Black, no thicker than 4mm including a backing board and be NOT larger than 50 x 40cm (or equivalent area 2000cm2) and NOT be smaller than 16 x 12” (40.6 x 30.5cm or equivalent area 1200cm2). The size and shape of the mount and the window is down to the author allowing the mounting of small prints, panoramas, letter box and square mounts as well as out of camera formats.
We encourage members who may wish to submit their entries into other competitions to use mounts that are 50 x 40cm in size which is the normal accepted size in many competitions and exhibitions such as those run by PAGB, and this would enable you to reuse the print many times.
PRINTING AND MOUNTING OF PRINTS
In order to provide the maximum support to members the society shall avail support in sourcing printing of their images and mounting services. Experienced members may also be able to offer additional support and their offers of help should be encouraged.
The following link is a list of companies that offer both printing services and card mount supplies: this link will be added shortly
Where members wish to take advantage of volunteers from the society to assist mounting your images, the society shall make available a range of card mounts at a reasonable cost. These members may be able to offer advice to help you mount you own images or if you require, they can mount your images into an appropriate mount ready for appraisal. To take advantage of this service, you MUST submit your prints one calendar month prior to the closing date.
ENTRY AND SUBMISSION – The CLOSING DATE for submission of entries is THURSDAY 14TH MAY 2026. No entries will be accepted for appraisal after this date.
If you wish to take advantage of the societies offer to mount your prints, you MUST submit your prints one calendar month prior to the closing date.
You will need to complete the on-line entry by copying and pasting the following link into your web browser which will take you to the entry form:
This link will be inserted shortly
DIGITAL FILES – Digital files of your print submissions are required and these should be saved as jpeg maximum quality, not exceeding 1200 pixels tall and 1600 pixels wide. The image file name should be the title of the image, i.e. the jpeg image file for the image ‘Mam Tor’ would be labelled ‘Mam Tor.jpg’.
Digital files should be emailed to chvps-exhibition@googlegroups.com using a file handling service such as https://wetransfer.com.
APPRAISAL – Eligible entries will be appraised and commented on by David Gibbins ARPS APAGB EFIAP/b BPE5 at our meeting on June 11th 2026. Awards for the top three images in each category together with Commendations as appropriate will be voted on by members and guests present at the appraisal evening.
The appraiser will be encouraged to offer supportive critique where novice and inexperienced members have been identified. There is no specific award at this time but they will be eligible for the main awards. In the event that a member from this section receives an award, they will no longer be eligible for recognition as a novice/ inexperienced member in future exhibitions.
Awards with the exception of the Denis Thorpe trophy and the Catherine cup shall be voted on by a poll of members and visitors present at the appraisal evening. There is currently no provision for voting remotely.
The visiting appraiser shall award the Denis Thorpe Trophy for the best monochrome image taken from either the General or the Challenge categories and the Catherine Cup for the best colour image taken from either category.
EXHIBITION – An exhibition of award winning and members’ images will be displayed at a range of local venues.
CONTACT – Questions regarding the above guidelines can be emailed to Ian Stanyon at chvps-exhibition@googlegroups.com
Thank you and GOOD LUCK.