General: 

• Digital images must be submitted to the website by midnight the Thursday before the monthly meeting.  

• If a change to this schedule is needed, it will be announced on our events page.  

• Entrants must have captured and created the original exposure or exposures. 

• Anyone can enter the competition by submitting their image as described below.  Only members can earn ribbons or points toward our annual  awards.

• Current members of APPA must have their dues paid by the submission deadline to compete.

• All processing, manipulation, printing or rendering must have been done by the entrant or under their direct supervision.

• All entrants must have obtained and have access to all necessary releases (model or property) and agree to hold APPA harmless against all claims and liabilities arising out of APPA's display, publication and promotion or other use of each image submitted to APPA.

• No entry will be eligible if it has been made under the supervision of an instructor or as a class assignment. All images submitted must be self-directed. Images created in an educational environment under direct supervision from an instructor are ineligible.

• Any entry that has been created from an existing photograph, portrait, graphic or any other artwork produced by another person is a violation of the competition rules and will not be judged, accepted or displayed. 

• If an entry, in the good-faith opinion of the APPA, violates copyright, trademark or any other applicable law, that entry shall be disqualified.

• The participant does not need to be present at the monthly meeting, however they must be present at the business portion of the meeting to qualify for ribbons or points toward our annual  awards.

• At this time participants may submit up to two (2) images.  This change for 2024 will be monitored through the year to see if it encourages greater participation.

• A minimum of three (3) images must be entered to constitute a print competition.

• Images previously submitted to and considered merit-worthy at SummerFest (Texas State), Southwest (Regional), and PPA (National/International) are not eligible.

• To enter go to https://printcompetition.com.  There you will need to sign up for a membership (either basic or their premium).  When the competition is open it will be announced on our Facebook Members Only Page along with an email.  Please make sure you select the "Austin" APPA vs the "Arkansas" APPA.  They allow you to enter theirs as well but it will not count towards ours.   

• These rules are subject to change at the discretion of the Competition / Print Director as needed. 

• Submission fees remain $10 per image for members, $20 per image for non-members and $5 for each critique requested. 

Judging: 

Images will be judged considering the following twelve (12) attributes of a professional photograph, in order of importance.

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILED PPA MERIT PRINT CRITERIA. 

Awards: 

• Ribbons will be presented for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places based upon the highest total number of points for member competitors who attend the monthly meeting.  In the event of a tie, the tie will be resolved by the speaker or the second judge under speaker’s choice selections.   

• All qualified entries of member competitors attending the business portion of the monthly meeting (or the portion of the meeting where the results are presented) will receive one (1) point for each image sumbitted toward the Austin PPA's annual Photographer of the Year award. 

• Winners selected from the member competitors who are in attendance of the monthly meeting will receive the following additional points toward Photographer of the Year; three (3) points for 1st place, two (2) points for 2nd place and one (1) point for 3rd place. 

• The Presenter will choose from entries from the competitors who are in attendance of the monthly meeting.  The Presenter's Choice, will bring the competitor one (1) point toward the Photographer of the Year award.

• Glen Eller Scholarship: Active members entering at least 70% of the print competitions throughout the year are eligible for a scholarship to The Texas School of Professional Photography. The Glen Eller Scholarship is awarded each year by a drawing at the Annual Holiday Party. You do not have to be present to win. 

Scholarship must be redeemed for tuition only in the upcoming year or the scholarship will be given to the runner-up of the drawing. Scholarship may not be gifted, given away or sold to any other member or non-member. 

Questions? Email competition@austinppa.com

1/9/2024 VAL