The BOC Photographic Competition

Each year the BOC holds an online Photographic Competition.

Pictures can be of any subject, but must contain an orchid.

The competition is open to all individual members of organisations that are themselves members of the BOC. There will be prizes for the first three winners of £50, £30, and £20 respectively.

Each BOC member organisation will be able to submit up to five pictures from its own members, and to put these in to a Gallery held in the BOC Database. The pictures will have to be in digital format, and of a limited size, and the complete Gallery will be available for viewing by anyone via the BOC web site. After sufficient time, each BOC member organisation will be able to vote on behalf of its own members for the top ten pictures in the Gallery, and the pictures with the highest number of points will awarded the prizes.

The timetable for the competition is for the system to be available for full uploading to the Gallery to be available from September until the end of December . At the end of the year, the Gallery will be locked, and votes may then be cast for the best pictures. This will take place between 1st January and the end of February .

Awards will be made at the BOC AGM in March . In the case of a draw, the BOC Executive Committee will make the final decision.

Preparing and submitting pictures

Each picture should be in a digital format before uploading to the Gallery. Picture from film must be scanned, and the resulting computer file should be submitted for uploading. It is recommended that each picture should be about 1000 pixels wide, and this will give good results for reproduction. A limit on the picture size for uploads is imposed by the system, and this is described in the online upload facility.

It is suggested that each Society may hold a competition for its members at a meeting in the autumn, and that the winning five pictures are then uploaded to the Gallery. It will be the responsibility of the Society’s Web Contact to log in to the BOC Database, and then to upload the pictures. Online documentation is provided to help with this.
A quick link to the Database is provided as follows :- Click here

(Please scroll down.)

Voting

After the 1st January, each society will be able to vote for pictures in the Gallery. For those that do not have access to the Internet, and for the benefit of all members, it is suggested that a digital slide show may be arranged at a society meeting in order for society members to cast their votes for the best pictures in the Gallery. Each society will have the choice of up to ten pictures for which to cast votes, and the positions are then allocated points by the online system.

The points are allocated as follows: - 1st placed picture 31 points, 2nd 24 points, 3rd 18 points, 4th 13 points, 5th 9 points, 6th 6 points, 7th 4 points, 8th 3 points, 9th 2 points, and 10th 1 point. The winner will be the owner of the picture with the highest number of points at the close of voting on 28th February.

Updating and Management

During the period up to the end of the year, each Web Contact will be able to upload to the Gallery and delete pictures in the Gallery (only those uploaded by a given society will be able to be deleted by that society). This also applies to voting (votes for subsequently deleted pictures will not be counted!). This will allow Web Contacts some time to practise with the system.

Only when the final five pictures are uploaded, and the 31st December is reached will the Gallery be locked, and further changes will not be allowed. Each picture is given a unique number, and it is against this number that votes are cast. Picture numbers are fixed on the 1st January.

Details of the picture’s author are not visible when viewing the Gallery, only the Picture number and title will be shown, so please do not put individual’s names in the picture titles!

Processing the awarded photographs

When the top three pictures are announced, their authors will be publicised, and the awards made known generally. The BOC website will be displaying these pictures prominently, and the Gallery will be archived in preparation for the next competition. The archived Galleries will be available for viewing at any time online.

Pictures from the Gallery may be used subsequently, and due acknowledgements will be made to the authors; copyright will remain with the authors and will be managed by proxy by the BOC.