Northern Ireland Photographic Association

 

CELTIC CHALLENGE 2011

The Celtic Challenge 2011 weekend will take place in Northern Ireland and will run from Friday 23rd September until Sunday 25th September.

The judge for the competition will be Roger Parry ARPS HonPAGB, AFIAP from Midland Counties Photographic Federation

The main public event, the Celtic Challenge Competition, will be on Saturday afternoon in the Queen’s Leisure Complex, Minor Hall in Holywood, North County Down starting at 2 pm.

The minor hall has seating capacity in excess of 200 and we hope that we will be able to fill all the seats with camera club members from the Celtic Regions across the water and from Ireland.

Detailed planning for the weekend is under way but in outline the format will be as previously established:-

Friday evening	informal get together,
Saturday Morning	Judging in closed session involving the judge and competition organisers while visitors enjoy sightseeing visits in the area,
Saturday Afternoon	Public presentation of images with judge’s comments, announcement of results and the presentation of awards.
Saturday Evening	Dinner
Sunday	Further outings as desired.

The rules and entry forms are available as separate documents..

The rules have only minor changes from last year.  One change is that we are asking for digital copies of print entries to be provided on CD.  Last year Cornwall Photographic Association produced and circulated a CD containing all the entries from the Projected Digital Image section of the competition and this was much appreciated.  It is our intention this year to produce a CD or DVD containing images from all three sections for circulation.

The Queen’s Leisure Complex in Holywood is a short walking distance from the railway station which has a 30 minute service from both Belfast and Bangor throughout the day with additional trains at peak times – the journey time from Belfast City Centre is 20 minutes or less.  Parking is available at the Complex.

We will circulate sources of information about accommodation and the venues for the Friday and Saturday evening events soon.  In view of the ready availability of public transport, accommodation in Belfast, Holywood or Bangor would be equally convenient.

We hope that everyone will enjoy the weekend and the opportunities for socialising and sightseeing which have been the hallmarks of this event since it first began in 1996.

Alastair Jack
NIPA Celtic Challenge Organising Committee

15th June 2011

Tel: 028 9083 5956
Email: alastrjack@aol.com

 

Northern Ireland Photographic Association

 

CELTIC CHALLENGE 2011

To be held in the Queen’s Leisure Complex Minor Hall, Holywood, Co.Down on Saturday 24th September 2011 at 2.00 pm

Competition Rules

 

1       The competition will have 3 sections and each Region will enter 10 monochrome* prints, 10 colour prints & 10 PDIs.

2       Images, by the same author, which have been entered in this or any previous Celtic Challenge cannot be entered again. This includes images which are so similar to previously entered images as to be virtually identical.

3.      Images entered must be entirely the work of the photographer. Composite images are permitted provided all the component images meet this requirement

4.      Each Region will be represented in their total entry by at least 7 different authors.   No author may enter more than three photographs in any one section.

5.      Not more than 3 Natural History photographs should be entered in any one section.

6.      An independent judge will be asked to score each photograph out of 20 and the Challenge Trophy will be awarded to the Region which achieves the highest aggregate score.

7.      A small award will also be given to the author of the highest scoring photograph in each section.

8.      All prints should be clearly labelled with the name of the Region, the entry number (as on the entry form), the title and the name of the author.

9.      The CD with the projected images should be sent to Alastair Jack (address below) by Friday 9th September 2011.  The Entry Form should either be sent with the CD or, ideally, emailed to alastrjack@aol.com by the same date.  The Entry Form should be copied by email to Billy Leahey at w_leahey@yahoo.co.uk, or posted to him at 75 Tillysburn Park, Belfast, BT4 2PD.

10.    Prints should be delivered to the organisers by 09:30 on the day of the competition.

11.    The Northern Ireland Photographic Association will take every care, but cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage to submitted work.

Further Information

*Monochrome/Colour Print Definition

 

A monochrome print is defined as a black and white image with shades in between or a black and white image with shades in between which has been modified by the addition of a single tone to the entire image.

Colour prints are all images other than those defined above. A print which has had the addition of partial toning or the addition of one colour to any part of a black and white image is defined as a colour print.

Print Presentation

All prints must be mounted. A mount size of 40cm x 50cm is preferred.

Digital Images of Print Entry

For the purpose of producing a digital slideshow of all the images entered in the competition and showing a selection of images on the NIPA website, prints should be accompanied by a CD containing digital versions.  Only one CD is required for each region containing images in each of two folders named Mono and Colour.

The CD containing the print images may be delivered to the organisers with the prints or sent beforehand as desired.

 

All digital files are to be submitted in the following format :

1.         Colour Space – sRGB.  

2.         File Format - jpeg

3.      Image Size - 1400 pixels horizontal, maximum; 1050 pixels vertical, maximum.

4.      The picture area (image area 1400 x 1050) must not display the title or author’s name.

5.      The image ‘Filename’ should be composed of the entry number (01, 02 and 03 etc. as it appears on the entry form) followed by _ (underscore) and the two characters for your regions* (from list below) in capital letters, followed by _ and the title (maximum 20 characters, capitals and spaces permitted).

          * We will identify the regions by the two character codes as follows:

Cornwall	CO	North Wales	NW
Eire	EI	Scotland	SC
Isle of Man	MA	South Wales	SW
Northern Ireland	NI

                                                                                           

                       
Filename Examples:

(1) The file name for the 2nd image ‘Misty Loch Ard’ for Scotland would be:-
02_SC_Misty Lochard.jpg

(2) the filename for the 10th image ‘’On the Beach’ for N.Wales would be:-
10_NW_On The Beach.jpg

You may capitalise the title and leave spaces as you wish.

6.      Please submit all images for the PDI section together on one CD. 

          Please submit digital versions of prints in the monochrome and colour print sections on one separate CD as described under the paragraph “Digital Images of Print Entry” above

          No digital images should be submitted by email.

7.      Files should be written to a ‘CD-R’.  The following details should be written on the CD using a permanent marker pen.

• The name of the Region
• “PDIs” or “Prints” as appropriate
• Sender details:-

Name
Phone number
Email address

Please do not stick labels onto your CD.

8.      Please make sure that no ‘virus’ is present within the CD

 

Alastair Jack, (Celtic Challenge 2011 Organising Committee)

12 Glencroft Road
Newtownabbey
Co. Antrim
BT36 5GD