Competition FAQ

• How to upload images to a CAPA Competition

If you require further assistance or clarification, please feel free to email the Director of Competitions at competitions@capacanada.ca.

Competition Specifications: carefully read and understand the competition requirements  Seek clarification from the competition coordinator when required.

Relevance to Theme: confirm that the image aligns with the theme’s definition.  Seek clarification from the competition coordinator, if required.

Editing Criteria: does the image meet the competition’s editing criteria? Seek clarification from the competition coordinator, if required.

Image Specifications: naming of image requirements, file name & image dimensions.

Feeling nervous is understandable, but photography competitions provide valuable opportunities for growth through constructive feedback and self-analysis. Embrace competitions as positive challenges, maintain reasonable expectations, and use the results as motivation to keep improving your skills and nurturing your passion for photography.

If you are new to photo competitions, I would highly recommend that you carefully read and comply with all the conditions outlined in a photo competition. By doing so, you could reduce the possible disappointment of a lower-than-expected score, or having your image disqualified from the competition. Avoid assuming from the title of the competition that your images already meet the requirements.

Instead of striving to win top awards in a photo competition, photographers should consider a more achievable and reasonable goal, that being having their images score in the top 20% of the competition. Placing in the top 20% implies that an image has met the competition’s specifications and has stood out in a competitive field.

Aiming for the top 20% provides a motivating yet attainable target for photographers, without setting unrealistic high expectations. It encourages continuous improvement while acknowledging that even exceptional images may not always win top awards due to the subjective nature of the judging process.

Absolutely. We modify and refine our recurring competitions year over year. These adjustments are made to introduce variety and pose fresh creative challenges for photographers.

The details of each year’s competitions are announced and posted to our website around April 1st annually. For the narrative for these competitions, we aim to keep the details unchanged until the competition closes.

When participating in any photo competition, it is imperative that photographers thoroughly review and adhere to all the competition’s specifications. Failing to do so could result in a lower score than expected or disqualification of the image.

Shortly before and after the ‘closing-date’ of each competition, your submitted images will be pre-screened to ensure they met the Scope of Competition. If issues or concerns are discovered, you will suggest asked to make the necessary changes or replace the image prior to the ‘day-of-judging.’
On the ‘day-of-judging,’ the Judging Panel will review and score your images based on the Scope of Competition and the details contained in our CAPA Eligibility Criteria webpage.

Images that fail to meet these two components may be disqualified by the Judging Panel provided that the majority of judges are in agreement.

The decisions made and scores assigned by the Judging Panel cannot be appealed.

For all competitions, the Judging Panel will award a gold, silver and bronze medal to an entrant which receives the three highest accumulated scores. In addition, they will award a 1st, 2nd and 3rd Merit Award to the three highest scoring individual images. No ties are permitted for the medal and merit awards. Therefore, the Judging Panel will break all ties to establish the final winners.

In breaking a tie for a medal or merit, the Judging Panel will be presented with the tied images and will be asked to rank their choice of images (ie – 1st choice, 2nd choice, etc….). Images gaining the highest choice total will be the winner of the tie. All medal and merit ties will be listed in the final competition report along with the image breaking the tie.

Eight to ten percent of the total entrants will receive a Honourable Mention Ribbon which will be awarded by the Director of Competitions.

Final Competition Report and winning images will be posted on the CAPA website. Winning images will be open for public viewing. However, the final competition results can only be viewed by logging into the CAPA website and selecting the Competition Reports option from the Competitions dropdown menu. If you cannot see the Competition Reports option, you are not logged into the CAPA website.

The final competition report and images will also be sent to the editor-in-chief of our Canadian Camera magazine for possible inclusion in a forthcoming magazine edition.

As outlined in the CAPA Eligibility Criteria webpage, the submitted images should be recent. The determination of what is a recent image is left to the good judgement of the individual photographer.

No. Your image has been recognized and honoured with a CAPA award. Therefore, you must submit another image for the respective competition. The Director of Competitions maintains a database of past winners/images and will review this database prior to approving competition results.

Yes, you can use any photo-editing software to perform post-processing on your image. However, the limitations in using post-processing are outlined in each competition’s Editing Criteria. Exceeding the competition specifications will result in the image being disqualified and the competition results will be re-sorted.

No. Images will not be accepted for a competition after the ‘closing-date.’ Only exception is with the approval of the CAPA Director of Competitions.

The two following points contained within the CAPA Eligibility Criteria addresses this question:

• they will NOT enter an identical or substantially the same image more than once into the same CAPA competition (‘individual‘ and/or ‘club‘ categories). ONLY EXCEPTION is for a submission into the Audio Visual Presentation Competition.
• they will NOT enter an identical or substantially the same image into a CAPA competition in which the image has previously received a CAPA Award. Images in a series with only slight variations will be considered substantially the same image. An image rotated, flipped, re-formatted or converted to monochrome will be deemed substantially the same image.

CAPA competitions may appear complex because they aim to accommodate two distinct groups of photographers – traditional photographers who focus on capturing the best image in-camera with minimal post-processing, and those who rely heavily on post-processing to enhance and manipulate their images after capture.

To cater to both groups, CAPA offers competitions with different editing criteria restrictions. Some competitions such as monochrome, nature/wildlife and/or photojournalism allow minimal editing to test traditional photography skills.

Other competitions have more lenient criteria for those who use extensive post-processing as part of their artistic process.

The rationale behind having editing restrictions is to:

• Ensure fairness and prevent unfair advantages from excessive editing.
• Evaluate core photography skills like composition and lighting rather than just editing abilities.
• Encourage authenticity and originality in capturing impactful in-camera images.
• Maintain consistency for judges to evaluate entries fairly.
• Increase efficiency for judges.
• Provide learning opportunities to improve in-camera skills.

While some may prefer fully-open editing, CAPA’s approach recognizes various photography styles and skillsets through appropriately categorized competitions.

Thank you for reaching out with your thoughtful reflection on CAPA’s policy regarding photographing vulnerable individuals. I appreciate you sharing your perspective that such images, when captured with good intentions, can play a vital role in raising social awareness and fostering empathy.

I have carefully considered the points you raised. While I absolutely recognize the power of photography to illuminate difficult realities, I have ultimately decided to maintain our current policy of not accepting images that depict people experiencing homelessness, infirmity, or personal crisis.

My overriding concern is for the dignity and well-being of vulnerable individuals who may not be in a position to fully consent to being photographed or to control how their images are used. Even when photographers have the best intentions, I believe the act of capturing and publicizing a person’s suffering or hardship can too easily veer into feeling invasive or exploitative.

In the meantime, I would encourage you to explore other creative ways to surface important social issues that don’t compromise individual dignity in the process.

Any announcements regarding modifications, refinements or clarifications to a specific competition narrative will be posted to our monthly CAPA Competition News webpage (https://capacanada.ca/category/competition-news/).

These updates will also be highlighted in our regular electronic CAPA News email.

• The Director’s email address is competitions@capacanada.ca

• Photographers’ Copyright Protection and Rights

1. All photographic images taken by a photographer remain the intellectual property of the respective photographer and retain the copyright over their image.
   • By virtue of submitting an image into a CAPA competition, the photographer asserts and agrees that:
   1. 1. CAPA accepts no liability for any breach of copyright or trademark by the photographer.
      2. CAPA is permitted to use and reproduce their copyright-protected image for non-commercial purposes such as: exhibitions, publications, promotions and for educational purposes.
      3. CAPA will seek my permission prior to including their image, if selected, in the annual international Four Nations competition or other photo competitions.
2. Any potential copyright infringement incidents relating to the Association’s use of an image should be reported by the photographer to the President and Director.

While you are permitted to use photo for post-processing application on your submitted images, not all of these editing features are permitted in our competitions.

It is highly recommended that you review the specific editing criteria for each competition you wish to enter, as there may be restrictions on certain types of post-processing or editing techniques.

Please refer to our “CAPA Stance on Artificial Intelligence in Photo Competitions” document for detailed guidelines on the acceptable and unacceptable use of post-processing techniques involving artificial intelligence.

No, our Editing Criteria states:

By virtue of submitting a photographic image into a CAPA Competition, the photographer asserts and agrees that:

• For the purposes of our competitions, a photographic image is defined “as being a captured image on a light-sensitive device (e.g. film camera, digital camera, smartphone, tablet, etc…) and recorded on film or in a digital format.

AI generated images created from scratch are not considered photographic images and are not accepted.”

No. We recommend that you review the details of our “CAPA Stance on Artificial Intelligence in Photo Competitions” document for the latest details on this topic.

This document clearly outlines the specific artificial intelligence functions and techniques that are allowed or prohibited when submitting images into our photo competitions.

The use of filters is permitted in CAPA competitions, but with certain conditions:

• On-camera filters (a physical accessory that is attached to the camera lens or to the camera) which are used during image capture are permitted. Examples include: close-up lens, neutral-density, polarizer and UV filters.
• Software filters and pre-sets applied in post-processing are permitted, provided they do not add any elements to the images that were not originally captured by the photographer.
• All components of the submitted image must be the photographer’s original work. Adding textures, shapes, or any element not captured by the photographer are not permitted.

The key principle is to maintain authenticity and fairness by ensuring the submitted work is entirely the photographer’s own creation from initial capture to final image, without incorporating any elements not captured by the submitting photographer.

When an image is submitted to our photo competitions, the following processes take place:

• Your image is temporarily stored in the CAPA competition database directory, with access restricted to only authorized personnel such as the Director of Competitions.
• Judges are provided with limited access to the image and title of the image for scoring purposes.
• Except for the winning images, all other entries are deleted from the CAPA’s website database directory.
• Winning images are posted on the Competition Winners website for the specific competition.
• Copies of the winning images and competition reports/spreadsheets are forwarded to the CAPA Secretary for archiving.

No, there are no time constraints or limits regarding when the images you submitted for our competitions were originally captured or photographed.

Our online competition system ensures specific image specifications comply with all our competitions.

The two key requirements are:

• Images smaller than the maximum dimensions will ONLY be accepted when one of the image edges has a horizontal size is 1400 pixels or the vertical size is 1050 pixels. For example: square image – 1050 x 1050 pixels; 1400 x 800 pixels; or 700 x 1050 pixels.
• File size: The image file size must be less than 1.8 MB.

If an image fails to meet either of these requirements, an error message will be displayed during the upload process. In such cases, you will need to edit the image to conform to the specified dimensions and file size, and then attempt to upload it again.

If you continue to experience issues with uploading your images despite meeting the requirements, please contact the Director of Competitions at competitions@capacanada.ca.

For the title field in the competition upload window, you should provide a concise title that introduces your image to the judges.

Avoid entering your name, using the words “NO TITLE”, or leaving the title field blank.

Not putting the maker’s name in the title field allows the judging panel to evaluate the submitted image solely based on its content, without any potential bias from knowing the photographer’s identity.

Yes, you can re-submit an image that was previously entered into a past competition but did not receive an award, as long as it meets the current competition’s requirements.

No. our Eligibility Criteria webpage states:

By virtue of submitting a photographic image into a CAPA competition, the photographer agrees that:

• “Substantially identical images may not be entered in the same competition category, as both a club and individual submission, or in subsequent competitions if previously awarded. Slight variations are still considered the same image. An image that has been rotated, flipped, re-formatted or converted to monochrome or infrared will be deemed substantially the same image”.

No. our Eligibility Criteria webpage states:

By virtue of submitting a photographic image into a CAPA competition, the photographer agrees that:

• “Substantially identical images may not be entered in the same competition category, as both a club and individual submission, or in subsequent competitions if previously awarded. Slight variations are still considered the same image. An image that has been rotated, flipped, re-formatted or converted to monochrome or infrared will be deemed substantially the same image”.

Yes, the Director will assist you. However, the images can only be uploaded if your membership is CAPA is current.

Yes, you can. All you need to do is send an email message to the Director of Competitions at competitions@capacanada.ca

The Pre-screening Committee of Certified CAPA Judges plays a gatekeeper role to uphold the competition’s integrity. The Pre-screening committee:

• Checks to ensure submitted images adhere to the competition’s scope and eligibility criteria, thereby minimizing the number of disqualified images.
• The above minimizes the number of non-compliant images reaching the judging panel, and a such enhances competition efficiency.
• Contacts and encourages photographers to re-submit or correct questionable images before judging commences.

However, the committee will NOT validate if entrants assigned images to the correct theme.

Once the competitions have closed, the judging team members are tasked with carefully examining the competition narrative and assessing each submitted images according to the Judging Criteria that is specifically outline within each individual competition.

The Judging Criteria details are as follows:

• An Image’s title may be used by the judges in evaluating a submission, so entrants should take care in selecting a title that complements or contributes to the vision or message being presented in the image.
• The judges will assign scores primarily based on the ‘emotional’ components of the image, considering values such as creativity and emotional impact. Secondary emphasis will be place on the ‘technical’ aspects, followed by considerations of the ‘composition’.
• Technical and Organizational factors, such as exposure, sharpness, focus, space, and composition, will be taken into account solely to the degree they do or do not support or reinforce the creative vision and storytelling. Images will not be penalized in scoring for so-called technical rule infractions, such as focus, if that is immaterial to the creative vision and storytelling.
• Likewise, judges take into consideration in their scoring the degree to which the entrant’s use of techniques such as colour, monochrome, duo and multi-tone, contributes to or supports the creative vision and the story telling value of the image.

Based on each judge’s assessment, they assign a score using the Scoring Chart as outlined below:

To ensure a wider distribution of scores and minimize the number of ties, judges are encouraged to use .5 scores (such as 4.5, 5.5, 6.5, 7.5, 8.5,9.5).

Regardless of whether your image is removed or disqualified from a competition, the Director of Competitions will email you outlining that your image has been withdrawn or disqualified from the competition and providing the rationale for doing so.

You are permitted to appeal the removal of an image or the rescinding of an award made by the Director of Competitions.

If you disagree with this removal or rescinding of an award, please email the President at president@capacanada.ca. Decisions made by the President are final.

However, you cannot appeal the disqualification of an image made by the judging panel. The Eligibility Criteria, it states:

“By the act of submitting an image to a CAPA competition, the photographer agrees to the following:

The decisions and scores provided by the Judging Panel are final and cannot be appealed.”

Our Competition Policy and Procedures states:

Director of Competitions reserves the right to withdraw an image before, during, or shortly after judging in any of the following circumstances:

• Non-compliance with Scope of Competition, Editing Criteria and/or Eligibility Criteria.
• Failure to provide original unedited files within one (1) week upon request.
• Confirmed instances of plagiarism.
• Previously received a CAPA award for the image submitted.

Director of Competitions will maintain the integrity of our competitions by rescinding any award if it is verified that the award:

• Plagiarized another work.
• Was generated by an AI text-to-image model.
• Incorporated generative AI editing or enhancement(s).
• Previously received an award from the Association.

This restriction is based on CAPA’s Competition Policy and Procedure which states:

“Refrain from disclosing individual judges’ score in the final competition report, and will not provide theses scores when requested by a camera club or club member or individual Association member”.

The rationale for not disclosing individual judges’ is to maintain objectivity and fairness and protect the privacy and independence of judges.

By keeping individual scores confidential, we can uphold the integrity of the judging process and avoid potential conflicts or disagreements. The overall assessment and ranking of total scores should take precedence over scrutinizing individual judges’ preferences.

In our national photography competitions, we have historically provided only numerical scores for submitted images, aligning with the standard practice of most international photography competitions. Offering both scores and written feedback is considered more suitable for CAPA zone-level competitions.

From CAPA’s perspective, zone competitions serve as an invaluable stepping stone, allowing local photographers to receive constructive comments from judges before potentially advancing to submit their work in national and international competitions.

Camera clubs play a crucial role in facilitating learning and skill development among members through shared experiences and in-club competitions.

Zone competitions are viewed as a vital intermediate stage, preparing photographers for the national competitions. At this level, judges provide supporting comments for novice photographers to aid their growth, a feature intentionally omitted from our national competitions.

Once all the potential winning images have successfully passed the verification and authentication processes, the Competition Director will proceed to announcing the award recipients.

The competition awards will comprise the following for both the ‘Club’ and ‘Individual’ categories in a competition as follows:

• Gold Medal – Awarded to the entrant with the highest aggregate score.
• Silver Medal – Awarded to the entrant with the second-highest aggregate score.
• Bronze Medal – Awarded to the entrant with the third-highest aggregate score.
• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place Merit Award e-certificate – Awarded to the three highest scoring individual images for each theme in a competition.

In the case of ties:

• There shall be no tie for the highest aggregate score (Gold Medal). If a tie occurs the judges will break the tie by awarding an additional 0.5 points to the Gold Medal Winning total score.
• For ties in the Silver and Bronze Medal rankings, the judges will make the final selection.
• There shall be no ties for the Merit Award e-certificates, judges will break any ties that occur.

Additionally, the Director of Competitions will award the Honorable Mention e-certificates to the entrants with the fourth-highest aggregate score and subsequent entrants, provided that the total number of Honorable Mentions do not exceed 8 to 10% of the total entrants.

In our online competitions, the judging process is thorough and comprehensive. Each judging team is given 5 to 6 days to score 400 to 450 images. After this initial scoring, 2 to 3 days are allocated for tie-breaking for medals and merit awards.

Ensuring integrity, we conduct an independent audit to verify the accuracy of the final tabulation of scores. Potential winning images undergo a rigorous verification process, confirming adherence to the theme definition, editing criteria and authenticity of the submitted image.

Approximately 4 days are dedicated to preparing medals and customized created e-certificates for the winners. As a standard practice, the final competition report is posted to the CAPA website around two weeks after the competition closes.

Effective September 1, 2021, we no longer email copies of the final competition reports directly to all participants. This decision is due to the following issues:

• Our internet provider limits the number of recipients per email to 50 to 60, requiring us to send multiple messages for each competition.
• Some internet services have flagged our email competition’s email address as a potential spam source when sending bulk messages.
• Individuals have tightened firewall settings, thereby blocking our bulk email deliveries.
• Outdated participant email accounts due to lack of updates.

However, the final reports will continue to be accessible on our website. To view a report, you must first log in then select Competitions Reports from the Competitions dropdown menu.

All competition reports are formatted into a PDF document prior to having the report uploaded onto the Winners webpage on the CAPA website.

Here are the steps for you to quickly find your name and images in a final competition report:

• Step #1 – Log into the CAPA website
• Step #2 – Select the Competition Reports from the Competitions dropdown menu.
• Step #3 – Locate the Competition Report window for the competition you are interested in.
• Step #4 – Double-click on the Club or Individual hyperlink to view the respective final competition report.
• Step #5 – Locate your internet browser’s Find feature located on the Edit dropdown menu.
• Step #6 – Enter your name in the Find field and your name will located in the report along with the name of images and to total score for these images.
• Step #7 – Logout of the CAPA website.