OREGON PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS ASSOCIATION



OPPA COMPETITION RULES


The purpose of our Trifecta competitions is to allow photographers to enter digital images or albums to be judged against a standard of excellence using the 12 Elements of Image Excellence. The Photographer of the Year and Divisional Award winners are taken from the competitions.  All other competition awards are taken from the Annual Year-End Competition.  The Trifecta competitions allows members to test out the images and receive feedback in preparation for PPA Merit Image Reviews.  Awards and points are for members only, but all four competitions are open to all.

Through image competition, OPPA members are also eligible to achieve OPPA exhibition points toward the OPPA Associate Fellow of Photography degree (silver medal) or the OPPA Fellow of Photography degree (gold medal).  For more information on degrees, click here.

OPPA strives to use the same rules that PPA uses for the Merit Reviews and the IPC (International Photographic Competition).  However, while there are no scores given at PPA's Merit Image Reviews, OPPA continues to use the traditional scoring system (65-100) as illustrated above. This gives you the opportunity to test the strength of your images at a local level before entering these larger competitions. 

DIGITAL IMAGE SUBMISSION

Our digital image submissions are managed via PrintCompetition.com, which provides a robust interface for managing our competitions.  There is a minimal ($14/year) fee to use their site.  Here's how to get started:
  1. Please go to www.printcompetition.com and create your account.
  2. Log on and choose the OPPA logo for the competition
  3. Then start uploading your images and be sure to enter a title. 
  4. Choose a category from the list below for either Members' Only competition or the Annual Open.
    If entering a Digital Artist or Creative Open images you must provide guide images.
  5. Fees are paid through the Print Competition website; entries are not considered complete and secured until paid.
  6. Deadlines for submission and payments will be announced for each competition.
For Trifecta Image Competitions, choose a division for each entry. The Divisions are:
  • Portrait
  • Wedding
  • Digital Art
  • Album
  • Commercial/Illustrative/Architectural
  • Photojournalism/Reportage
  • Fine Art/Landscape/Nature
For the Year-End Image Competition, choose a category for each entry when you register.  The Categories are:
  • Portrait (Human Subject)
  • Portrait (Animal Subject)
  • Wedding Portrait
  • Commercial/Illustrative/Architectural
  • Digital Art
  • Photojournalism/Reportage
  • Fine Art
  • Landscape/Nature
  • Album 
Image Category Descriptions can be found here.

REGISTRATION DEADLINES AND FEES

Registration opens 30 days prior to the event date.  The registration fee for members is $12.00 per image or album entered.  The non-member fee is $20 per image or album. Please see printcompetition.com for submission deadlines.

Please note:
  • Entries are allowed until the deadline or until capacity is reached; no refunds will be issued after the entry fee is paid.
  • Entries are not considered complete and secured until paid.
  • Entrants are required to register on www.printcompetition.com and create an account to participate.

SINGLE-IMAGE ENTRY ELIGIBILITY

  • Entrant must have captured and created the original exposure except in the Digital Artist category. Digital Artist entries may be created with images not captured by the entrant (such as stock photography) but all artwork must be done by the entrant.
  • All processing, manipulation and rendering, were done by the entrant or under their direct supervision.
  • The entrant has obtained all necessary releases (model or property).
  • The entrant’s name shall not appear anywhere on the face of the entry. 
  • A maximum of 4 entries image or albums may be submitted per entrant, per competition.
  • No entry will be eligible that has been made under the direct supervision of an instructor or as a class assignment.
  • Multiple entries of the same subject may be entered if substantive change has been made between the images.
  • Images entered in the Documentary/Photojournalism division or category must be un-retouched except for edits that could be done in a traditional dark room such as: dodging, burning, sharpening, cropping and conversion to black and white.  Any other retouching will result in disqualification of the image.  Nothing may be added or removed from the image except when cropping.
  • Files must be sized so the longest dimension is 4,000 pixels. The best aspect ratio to use for the monitor for your image is a 13:20 ratio of 2600px by 4000px. Each file must contain an embedded color profile of either sRGB or AdobeRGB and be saved at a JPEG quality setting of 10. In most cases, total file size should not exceed 3.5 MB.
  • Competitions are open to all.  In order receive points or awards, you must be current on your membership. Join OPPA now if you’re not a member.
  • It is not necessary to be present at the image competition to be eligible to participate, however it is strongly recommended.
  • Any image that has been entered at a Trifecta Competition may be entered at the Year-End Competition. It will be re-judged and may receive a different score (either higher or lower) but it will not receive a second point at the Year-End if it received a score of 80 or above at the Trifecta Competition. Entering an image in the Year-End Competition enables that image to be eligible for a category or division trophy. The score received at the Year-End Competition will not replace the score received at the Trifecta Competition and will not have any bearing or standing for Photographer of the Year.
  • Please note that while judges strive for consistency, an image may receive a different score when it is re-judged by a new panel of judges. This is not reflective of one panel being easier or harder than another panel but reflect how that judging panel felt about that image at that particular moment in time.
  • All images are viewed with the monitor in a horizontal (landscape) orientation, consistent with PPA's IPC standards. 

ALBUM ENTRY ELIGIBILITY

  • Entrant must have captured and created the original exposures.
  • All processing, manipulation and printing or rendering, were done by the entrant or under their direct supervision
  • The entrant’s name shall not appear anywhere on the face of the entry.
  • No entry will be eligible that has been made under the direct supervision of an instructor or as a class assignment.
  • All page/spread files must have the longest file dimension at 4,000 pixels, have an embedded color profile of either sRGB or AdobeRGB and be saved at a JPEG quality setting of 10.
  • Each page/spread file may contain as many images as you desire.
  • An entry shall contain a minimum 5 page/spread files up to 36 page/spread files.
  • Files are to be numbered in viewing order using two digits, i.e. 01.jpg, 02.jpg, 03.jpg, etc.
  • All individual files must be compressed into a single ZIP file. ZIP file name should use underscores for spaces for example what_a_wonderful_summer_wedding.zip
  • Studio identification or entrant’s name cannot appear on any file within the album entry.

THE FINE PRINT

  • AI Statement: No entry in any category can be created in part or whole using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology software that is intended to create whole images, backgrounds and other elements entirely from programmed images. A human must have had creative control over the work’s expression. Images and their elements must be created with traditional elements of authorship. The committee reserves the right to request the straight out of camera capture or captures used to make the competition entry.
  • A competitor shall not interfere with the live evaluation of images by contacting the image competition committee, any juror, or the jury chair via any method (text, email, social media message, phone call, etc.) during the competition. If this occurs, the committee has the option to disqualify any or all images the maker contacted the juror or committee member about.

ENTRIES NOT ALLOWED

  • If an entry, in the good-faith opinion of the jury panel violates copyright, trademark or any other applicable law, that entry shall be disqualified. Digital Artist entries may use images that were produced by other artists with that artist’s permission.
  • Images that previously scored 80 or above in previous Annual Open Competition or Year-End OPPA Image Competition may not be entered.
  • Images that previously scored 80 or above in any OPPA Image Competition, with the exception of competitions within the current calendar year, may not be entered, including any image from an album that received a score of 80 or above.
  • Images that have been selected for the World Cup competition for the prior year.
  • Images that have received a Top 32 designation in any IPC Category for the prior year.
  • Images that received a merit in PPA competitions prior to 2023.
  • No entry shall be eligible if the image was created under the direct supervision, or immediate guidance of an instructor.
  • No single image from a merited album may be entered as a standalone image in any OPPA competition. 
  • Any entry that has been reproduced from an existing photograph, portrait, graphic or any other artwork (sculpture, painting, mural, etc.) produced by another person is a violation of the competition rules and will not be judged, or accepted. 
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