As our Club is a member of Northern Ireland Photographic Association (NIPA), we take part in their annual competition to find the top Club in the League. We also have an Internal League linked with this competition. We believe that a spirit of healthy competition helps members to take camera and computer skills to the next level.
Members can be as active as they choose to be in our activities – the ultimate aim of the Club is for its members to get enjoyment from a shared interest in photography.
NIPA Competitions
We strongly encourage all members to submit images for each round of the NIPA competition. It is a great way to receive feedback and advice on your images as well as becoming competitive.
There are five rounds during the year. Rounds 1, 3 and 5 are Open while Rounds 2 and 4 are Themed. The themes for the 2024-25 season are Architecture (Round 2) and Flowers (Round 4).
There are three categories for each round of the competition – Monochrome Prints, Colour Prints and Digital Projected Images – and each member can submit a maximum of three images for each (total of 9 images submitted per round). N.B. You must not submit identical images in more than one section within a particular round.
Images are submitted first to the Club for our own internal judging, which usually takes place the week or so after the submission date. The top four images in each section (of which at least one must be from a Novice) are then sent on to NIPA for further judging. Points are then awarded to each club accordingly in order to find the top Club for the year. The best images at the NIPA judging level are awarded a star.
If an image is selected to represent the Club in a NIPA Round, it cannot be used again for another NIPA Round.
Internal League
All images submitted for NIPA competitions will be awarded a score by the judge. The top score for each member in each section in each round will be entered into the Internal League.
The League is divided into two sections – Novice and Advanced. A Novice is defined as anyone who has not yet had two images starred in a NIPA competition.
For information on preparing and submitting images for competition, please see our Handbook:
Click here to download our Handbook for 2024.
Internal Competitions
In addition to the NIPA competition rounds and our own linked Internal League, we also run some internal competitions throughout the year. These are:
- BHCC Novice PDI & Print Competition
- Ian Jackson Memorial Natural History Competition (PDI only)
- Charlie Rutledge Mono Competition