Grading and points system
Grading and points system
Grading
Members of HBPS are grouped into two grades:
‘B’ Grade: Members who have not yet earned enough awards to progress to ‘A’ Grade.
- New members to the club are automatically entered into ‘B’ Grade.
‘A’ Grade: Members who have progressed through ‘B’ Grade and achieved recognition.
- Promotion to ‘A’ Grade can be achieved by entering the monthly competitions and being awarded a total of 4 honours awards.
- Promotion to ‘A’ Grade takes place the following competition year i.e. from November’s judging.
- If you wish however to transfer to ‘A’ Grade straight away you can request to do so. No points will be carried over into ‘A’ Grade from ‘B’ Grade.
- This may suit someone who reaches the ‘B’ Grade honours early in the year and wishes their images to be assessed against the higher ‘A’ Grade standard.
- There is no time limit on achieving 4 honours awards to get promotion. Once promotion to ‘A’ Grade occurs, the member’s honours count is set to zero.
Open & Creative Categories only - points grade system
- Images entered in the HBPS monthly competitions are graded and awarded points.
- The points year runs from February to November.
- In both grades there are cups presented for the most points attained in a competition year (February – November).
- Any image entered into any HBPS graded competition is graded as follows:
- Note that as the standard in ‘A’ Grade is expected to be higher than ‘B’ Grade therefore images are judged accordingly.
- maximum of 2 entries per month, and a maximum of 1 entries in any 1 category
Not Accepted: 0 points
Accepted: 1 points
Commended: 3 points
Highly Commended: 4 points
Honours: 5 points
Judges Choice: 2 points
Not Accepted: 0 points
- Not of a suitable standard
- Basic errors made such as out of focus, poor composition, no subject or subject undefined, severely over or under exposed.
- A record shot.
- Does not meet set subject criteria
- Poor post production
- Poor presentation
Accepted: 1 points
- Has seen a subject worthy of making an image. Some of the basic elements are evident though the image needs a little more care and attention to detail.
Commended: 3 points
- Demonstrating the ability to make an image for its special interest showing understanding of the basic elements of composition and care with focus and exposure.
Highly Commended: 4 points
- Demonstrates the ability to make an image with some invention, creating interest and impact, showing control of the basic elements and principles of lighting, composition and camera techniques.
Honours: 5 points
- Demonstrates ability to manipulate photographic principles and processes to capture a moment in time with outstanding impact and originality. It may break the rules but shows understanding and mastery of the art of photography.
Judges Choice: 2 points
- Awarded to the image selected by the judge as their personal favourite.
- One judge’s choice award in each of Set subject, Open category for ‘A’ & ‘B’ Grades and in Creative / Altered Reality category.
- The Judges Choice 2 points are in addition to the Honours 5 points ie 7 points in total.
Set Subject Category only - points grade system
Every year we select 10 set subjects for the monthly competition. To encourage members to participate in this category we have increased the points on achievements. The aim of these changes is to encourage members to submit images into the Set Subject category and to challenge themselves, to experience new forms of photography, expand their knowledge of different photographic techniques and subject matter.
- Images entered in the HBPS monthly competitions are graded and awarded points.
- The points year runs from February to November.
- In both grades there are cups presented for the most points attained in a competition year (February – November).
- Any image entered into any HBPS graded competition is graded as follows:
- Note that as the standard in ‘A’ Grade is expected to be higher than ‘B’ Grade therefore images are judged accordingly.
- maximum of 2 entries per month, and a maximum of 1 entries in any 1 category
Not Accepted: 0 points
Accepted: 2 points
Commended: 4 points
Highly Commended: 6 points
Honours: 7 points
Judges Choice: 3 points
Not Accepted: 0 points
- Not of a suitable standard
- Basic errors made such as out of focus, poor composition, no subject or subject undefined, severely over or under exposed.
- A record shot.
- Does not meet set subject criteria
- Poor post production
- Poor presentation
Accepted: 2 points
- Has seen a subject worthy of making an image. Some of the basic elements are evident though the image needs a little more care and attention to detail.
Commended: 4 points
- Demonstrating the ability to make an image for its special interest showing understanding of the basic elements of composition and care with focus and exposure.
Highly Commended: 6 points
- Demonstrates the ability to make an image with some invention, creating interest and impact, showing control of the basic elements and principles of lighting, composition and camera techniques.
Honours: 7 points
- Demonstrates ability to manipulate photographic principles and processes to capture a moment in time with outstanding impact and originality. It may break the rules but shows understanding and mastery of the art of photography.
Judges Choice: 3 points
- Awarded to the image selected by the judge as their personal favourite.
- One judge’s choice award in each of Set subject, Open category for ‘A’ & ‘B’ Grades and in Creative / Altered Reality category.
- The Judges Choice 3 points are in addition to the Honours 7 points ie 10 points in total.
'A' Grade Awards
These awards are not time based and are running totals of honours achieved.
- Bronze award 4 Honours
- Silver award 8 Honours
- Gold award 12 Honours
- Platinum Award 20 Honours
- Diamond Award 30 Honours