Clarification On Role of Pre-Screening Committee

Given the heightened concerns regarding the potential misallocation images be
allocated the wrong theme, I have revised my instruction for judges as follows:

For our CAPA competitions, we established a Pre-screening Committee tasked with
reviewing all submitted into a competition prior the closing of a competition. Their role is to address any potential issues based on specific criteria:

• Ensure image falls within the competition
• Check for ‘hand-of-man’ in the Nature/Wildlife competition
• Check for any sexually explicit content
• Verify no photographer/club names are visible on the surface of the image
• Check that the image titles are not just “no-title”
• Determine if judges have entered their images into a competition they are judging
• Check for images that may appear as a trademark owner-sponsored image any
  potential trademark violation
• Identify any images that contain clues of an AI-generated images or images enhanced
  with generative features

If any issues are discovered, the committee contacts the entrant for corrections before the competition closes. Once the judging begins, no re-submissions or are permitted.

The Pre-screening Committee may occasionally miss a questionable image or ‘hand-of-
man’ because of the sheer volume of images being reviewed.

When an image is deemed to be in the ‘gray-area’ of compliance with the Scope of
Competition then the entrant will be given the ‘benefit-of-the-doubt’ and image will
advance to the judging process.

Regarding theme validation, I’ve instructed the committee not to proceed with it. My
rationale is as follows:

• Entrant bears the responsibility to carefully read and comply with the competition rules, including theme selection.
• By not validating themes, we encourage entrants to thoroughly read and comprehend
  the rules. Validating themes creates an expectation of hand-holding, which may
  undermine the learning process.
• Themes can be subjective and open to interpretation, leading to potential inconsistencies and disputes if validated. Leaving the interpretation to the judges encourages a more objective and unbiased evaluation.
• The Competition team will not amend submitted image themes without the entrant’s
  approval to avoid potential disputes.

As the Director of Competition, I have repeatedly encouraged entrants to contact me for
clarification on all aspects of our competition which includes theme selection.

Judges may deduct 0.5 to 1.0 point for images entered into incorrect themes, rather than
disqualifying them outright. Disqualification by judges is reserved for exceptional cases
provided that two or more judges are in agreement.

During the judging process, CAPA aims for fair evaluations without overly penalizing
entrants. If significant score variance occurs, judges are encouraged to re-assess and
discuss the image with fellow panel members. This process fosters consistency across
judgements, though judges aren’t obligated to alter their original scores.

CAPA’s priorities are maintaining competition integrity, fostering learning opportunities for
entrants, and providing proper guidance.

Delayed Closing For 2024 Four Nations Competition

The 2024 competition, hosted by the Australian Photographic Society is undergoing
some adjustments. Traditionally, the deadline for submissions has been June 24 of
each year.

However, due to unforeseen circumstances, their competition coordinator had to
step down at the end of March 2024.

A replacement coordinator has requested a two-month extension for the deadline to
allow for a smooth transition and to permit their society to select their top 80 images.
This request has received unanimous support from all Four Nations Committee
members.

A panel of CAPA judges has already selected the top 80 images from 80
photographers, selected from submissions to our 2024 – 2024 competitions.

Atlantic Zone Competition

Winning images can be viewed here:

• Club images – view webpage here
• Individual images – view webpage here

Prairie Zone Competition

Winning images can be viewed here:

• Club images – view webpage here
• Individual images – view webpage here

Canada: My Country Competition

Winning images can be viewed here:

• Club images – view webpage here
• Individual images – view webpage here