The new "Awards and acceptances" section
There is a new button link on the News & info page - "Awards and acceptances". This explains why.
Original idea
Martin Currie suggested: "There could be a 'page' which records members' achievements in external competitions (acceptances, ribbons, medals, publications, etc.). It would be 'normal' - not 'boasting' - for members to provide this information". (He then expanded on this summary). Tony Redford supported this idea, pointing out that Oldham PS has a "Members' Success" page. Our new section is compatible with Focus.
Is this boasting? I prefer to call it being open and honest!
How can we find out about these events?
There doesn't appear to be a consolidated list. But various organisations have their own list:
- FIAP: International Federation of Photographic Art | Salons Under FIAP Patronage
- PSA: Photographic Society of America | PSA Competitions and Exhibitions | PSA Exhibition Forms
- BPE: British Photographic Exhibitions | List of the British Photographic Exhibitions
What are the rules?
How "important" does an event (such as an exhibition) have to be for an award or acceptance to merit inclusion in our new section?
We don't have rules for this. If the effort of publishing these articles becomes too much, we may have to devise a threshold to limit submissions, but that isn't the case at the moment. (It becomes easier, of course, if more than one member has awards or acceptances at the same event. There will be only be one article per event).
So it is up to individual members to decide for themselves whether they want an achievement to be published in this way. As a guideline, exhibitions that are supported or sponsored by FIAP, PSA, or are recognised by BPE, have recognised respectability.
It also makes sense for this section to be used for significant recognition gained in other ways. When qualifications with the RPS (LRPS, ARPS, FRPS) or PAGB (CPAGB, DPAGB, MPAGB, etc) are gained by members, the news should be published here.
What about publishing past successes?
At the time of writing, one past success is identified by the "Awards and acceptances" list: by Geoff Robinson in a 2006 Exhibition. The reason why it is the only one case is that it was the only suitable existing website page I could find!
If I am told of other existing pages dedicated to recording successes at a particular event (rather than a piece of news buried in a larger page) I will add it to the list in reverse chronological order. If someone supplies me with suitable material for extra pages about past successes, I will publish them and add them to the list.
Galleries
Our Galleries page may appear to be unrelated to this new section. However, where an image in an "awards and acceptances" article is already in a gallery, the article will link to the image rather than duplicate it. So here is a way of displaying a photograph via two routes. Keep supplying images to Tony Redford for our Galleries section, especially when some of them have been accepted in one of these events, and they can then easily be re-exploited.
Postscript
Since writing the above, Martin Currie has provided details for an earlier event. This sort of opportunity is available to other members too.