Competition Info, Rules & Standings

PPSDC holds five image competitions per calendar year, on the Second Tuesday of the following months: 

NEW MONTHS STARTING 2025: March, May, July, September and November.

NEW CATEGORY STARTING 2025!  The WORKSHOP Category

Professional members are allowed up to four entries per competition, which will be scored on its own merits by a panel of judges.

Aspiring members are allowed two entries which will receive critique, but no scores and will not compete for awards,  Each image will also receive critique from at least one judge to let you know the image’s good points and ways you can improve.

PPSDC Image Competitions are established for Makers (photographers) to enter digital photographic files to be judged against a standard of excellence set forth in the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) sanctioned 12 Elements of a Merit Image. While the judging will prepare Makers for successful submissions at higher levels of PPA competition, the PPSDC Image

In addition to receiving valuable feedback on their images, PPSDC members are eligible to receive merits and earn points toward Year End Awards. Images that earn merits in individual competition will be published on the PPSDC website as well as in the PPSDC FOCUS magazine.

Further, members acknowledge and agree that merit images may be used in PPSDC print and electronic promotional materials with attribution.

 ELIGIBILITY: PPSDC Image Competitions are open to all PPSDC FULL MEMBERS IN GOOD STANDING. All members are encouraged to attend the Image Competitions as part of their continuing education and professional growth.

Regardless of category, submitted images must be digital files created by photographic processes. All entries will be submitted through  PrintCompetition.com.

• Members may submit up to 4 entries per competition.
• All processing, manipulation, or rendering must be accomplished by the entrant or under their direct supervision.
• Images that have entered previous competition, but did not merit, are welcome if significant changes have been made to enhance and improve the quality.
• Entries of the same subject in multiple images will be allowed, as long as the images are entirely different concepts.
• No changes to an entry are permitted once the deadline has passed.
• Late entries will not be accepted.

 ASPIRING MEMBERS: Aspiring members may submit up to two images per competition for critique only. No grade will be awarded and no points toward end of year competition will be earned.

Images will be deemed INELIGIBLE if:

• The image has been awarded merit in any previous PPA Affiliate, State, Regional, or National competition.
• Images were created or edited under the direction of or in collaboration with an instructor (eg., private classes, workshops, photo tours, West Coast School, etc.) All submissions must be self-directed. Submissions created in an educational environment under direct supervision from an instructor are ineligible.

Violation of any of the eligibility requirements may result in disqualification from competition and nullification of any Merits or other awards during the current or past competition year.

Fees: PPSDC Image Competition fees are $15 each for first three entries, the fourth entry is free. Entry fee must be paid through the PrintCompetition.com website during submission. Non-payment may result in image ineligibility. It is the responsibility of the member to ensure payment is received prior to submission deadline.

 Deadline: All PPSDC Image Competition entries must be submitted via PrintCompetition.com no later than midnight ONE week prior to the published competition date. NO LATE ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Digital File Format Specifications: PPSDC Image Competitions use the PrintCompetition.com website as the forum through which judges and participants will view and review entries.

Preparing Your Images for Submission:

Each submission shall:

• Use sRGB or AdobeRGB color space.
• Submitted in JPG format.
• Be sized so that the longest dimension is 4000 pixels and not exceed 10MB in file size.
• Be named as follows: category_titleofphoto_firstname_lastname.jpg

We encourage all members to participate and take advantage of this amazing opportunity to sharpen your photographic skills and improve your art. As daunting as it may seem for someone to judge your work, it provides you with insight in how to improve your images and increase your skill and confidence.