Just in time for the Nature Photography competition on October 8^th, we’re introducing an exciting addition to our competition nights. We appreciate that many of you (particularly if you’ve recently joined the club), may be a little intimidated about entering your images in competitions. So, to ease the glide-path, we are creating a new “Beginners” category, that will give you the benefits of a competition, without having to compete against more experienced photographers. Here’s how the Beginner’s competitions will work:

• The Beginners category is open to any club member who has not yet received a ribbon in any club competition.
• You may enter 1 or 2 images per competition, using the same procedures for submitting electronic images for the Novice and Advanced categories. Please be sure to include “Beginner” where you would otherwise enter “Novice” or “Advanced” in the identifying information.
• Your images will be critiqued by the competition judge, just as if you had entered the Novice or Advanced competitions.
• The judge will select 2 Beginner images for Honorable Mention, but no club competition points will be awarded.
• If you enter an image in the Beginners category, you may join the Novice or Advanced categories at any subsequent competition. (And even if you choose not to participate in a Beginner’s competition, you may still join the other categories directly, as per current competition rules.)
• Our current competition rules govern the number of times you may enter the same image in Novice or Advanced competitions. Entering an image in the Beginner’s category will not count against the limit on the number of times you may submit an image in the other two categories. 

So, please have at it in the Beginners competitions. Despite any trepidation you may feel, competitions are an extremely fun and valuable part of participation in the Club!