Purpose of Competitions
"The best way to improve your photography is PUBLIC EXHIBITION." - Ansel Adams

DMCC believes that exhibition is a key to development of personal photography skills. Competition is intended to allow the exhibition of your work, and to promote technical and artistic feedback between club members.  It is to allow members to gain experience in judging photographic art, as well as providing an avenue for recognition.

Monthly Competitions
Monthly competition dates can be found under ANNOUNCEMENTS/MONTHLY ANNOUNCEMENTS. Generally, deadlines for competition are: 
    * Digital images are due on the first Tuesday of a competition month by 10 p.m.
    * Prints are due on the first Tuesday of a competition month. 
We typically have digital and print contests each month - September through May, however, there may be exceptions.

For Digital Contests, members may:
* Submit two images for the class competition in which they are competing, plus
* One additional image for the “Theme” contest

For Print Contests, members may:
* Submit two images  (They can be 2 color, or 2 B&W, or 1 color and 1 B&W.)
* Prints must be between 8 1/2 x 11” and 11 x 14” and unmounted

Contest Rules (More detailed information can be found in the Club Handbook)
DMCC members may compete in club contests either in the Advanced Class or Masters Class. The digital contest results are announced at the second meeting of the month and the print contest live judging is done at the first meeting of the month following submission.  Additionally, each month we have an open class, digital theme contest.  Themes will be announced at the beginning of the year and can be found under the COMPETITION tab.

Members compete in the Advanced Class until they accumulate a total of 200 points or awarded Photographer of the Year for Advanced Class, then members move up to the Masters Class. 
(NOTE: Members stay in the same Class throughout the Club year. Movement up will only occur in the September following.)

Example: Ann Siladams is a new member. She enters the monthly Digital Contest in September and is awarded a 1st place and a 3rd place. She also enters the monthly Print Contest and is awarded an HM. She earns a total of 19 points for that month’s contests. She continues to earn points in subsequent digital and print contests and by January, she has accumulated 38 points. She will continue to compete in the Advanced class until the start of the next club year AFTER she has accumulated 200 points or more. At the start of the club year after reaching 200 points or more, she will then compete in the Masters class.  Please note: Members will not change classes in the middle of the current "club year" - September through May.  Class changes occur only in September.

The cumulative points needed for each class are as follows:
* Advanced: 0-200
* Masters: 201+

(New members may opt out of Advanced based on their abilities and a majority vote of the board.)

Points are awarded for placing in monthly contests using the following schedule:
* 1st = 8 points
* 2nd = 7 points
* 3rd = 6 points
* Honorable Mention= 5 points

The entrant must have taken the image for a contest entry. Images may be created by any means (i.e film or digital). For the digital contests, the entry must be supplied electronically. For the print competition, the entry may be printed at home or by any print vendor.

Images that have not won an award in a DMCC competition may be re-entered in subsequent competitions. Images that have won awards may not be entered in subsequent DMCC competitions as either print or digital images. Merely converting from color to B&W or cropping does not constitute a new image.

Member numbers are assigned when club dues are submitted (first time only, you will keep the same number from year to year) and can be obtained by contacting the digital contest coordinator. All of the club contests in DMCC use this numbering system including electronic recording of competition scores and judges’ comments for the benefit of contest entrants.