SPF Digital Championship

Our first audience event since February 2020 went ahead on Sunday 19th November 2023 at our new venue the Victoria Hall, Dunblane to which we had an excellent attendance from Club members from all over Scotland, together with an excellent support of our raffle. Many also commented that they really liked the venue, although it got a little warm in the afternoon. Ironically we were a little cold at our event there the day before so it should be just right for the next event. 37 Clubs competed on the day, 24 in the Plate and 13 in the Bowie.

Our Judges for these Championship Competitions were - Richard Speirs DPAGB APAGB BPE2 from Carlisle (NCPF), Tillman Kleinhans DPAGB EFIAP/g ARPS BPE5 HonLCPU from St Helens (LCPU), and Gordon Jenkins HonPAGB from Chorley (LCPU).

The day over ran our projected timetable by an hour, which was unfortunate, due in part because the process was new to many, or had been forgotten since 2019 when this event last ran, which resulted in a few late entries and processing delays. We will look at addressing this as best we can for next year's event. The knock on effect of the delays were that a number of people had to leave before the results were able to be announced, but fortunately representatives from almost all of the Clubs were able to stay and hear the results and collect any awards.

The final results were to show new winners in both competitions, who were both delighted with their wins.

Details of all of the Club and Individual Awards are available for download below, including all of the Scores for Round 1 for both the Plate and Bowie, and placings and scores for the Plate Trophy and Bowie Trophy.

Some of the Award Winning Images are shown here. Galleries of all of the Individual Awards can be viewed (click here) or view the Plate winning Club's entries (click here) and the Overall Winning Club's entries (click here)

Our thanks to everyone who support our raffle, whether by donation of prizes or by purchaing tickets, it does help us run these events.

A special thanks to Paper Spectrum for supporting this event through raffle prizes. In return, please support them - visit their website (click here) 

The SPF Digital Championship 2023 was run as two separate competitions, both run on the same day, judged by our three Judges, as an audience event. Your Club requires to choose which Competition to enter either ‘The Plate Trophy Competition’ or ‘The Bowie Trophy Competition’. You cannot enter both, so please choose which of these competitions you wish to enter from the following entry requirements.

The Scottish Club Digital Championship is open to all Clubs whose subscription has been paid for the current year (Jan to Dec), who pay the Club Entry Fee of £20, made payable to 'SPF', and should be sent to Joe Prior, not Libby. Any interpretation of the rules will be the prerogative of the Scottish Photographic Federation President or his nominees, and any decision will be final. Submission of entries implies acceptance of all rules and conditions of entry.

Your Club Competition Secretary is required to upload your images through the SPF Website into the Digital Championship Competition entry system for this event. Our website online entry system is currently being updated to deal with our new 2023 competition format.

An email will be sent out to your Competition Secretary as soon as the Online Entry System for this event is ready to open.

All of your 'bank of images' will require to be uploaded to the website, and your 1st Round selected from those images. Maximum File size remains 1600x1200, smaller sizes are still allowed. Paperwork will then be available to save and email, or print out. We have again supplied a collation form for your 'bank of images' which you can use to finalise your bank prior to completing your online entry. 

Please read and follow the full rules supplied in the downloads area below, which include updates to quantities and rules for this event, together with details of where payment and Entry Forms require to be sent.

Online Entry Closes 9th Nov 2023. We still require paperwork and payment to be sent to us, closing date for receipt of these is by 16th Nov 2023 to Joe Prior (see rules for his details). If either deadline poses an issue for your club by a day or two please contact us in advance and we will try and accommodate you. Any online issues please contact Libby (click here)

Please see full details below and also in the Rules and Info document available in the downloads area covering both Competitions - ‘The Plate Competition 2023’ - ‘The Bowie Competition 2023’ 

Clubs compete for the ‘Kirkintilloch Plate Trophy’ as Best Plate Championship Club. The following will also be awarded – Winner SPF Gold Medal, Runner-Up SPF Silver Medal, 3rd Placed SPF Bronze Medal.

• Clubs require to upload a Bank of Images (20 images max; NB Only 15 are required to compete, but the extra images allow more choice for your final round selection) to the SPF website.
• All Nature images that comply with the SPF Nature Definition should be marked as Nature when uploading your bank of images. These images will then be eligible for the Best Nature Award. *Please see SPF Nature Definition supplied later in these rules.
• No Club may have more than 3 nature** images in Round 1, and no more than 4 nature images in their Final round. **this includes all images that ‘look like nature’ even if they do not comply with the SPF Nature Definition.
• Clubs then require to pre-select 10 images for Round 1 from their Bank of Images in advance from those uploaded to the website.

On the day

• These pre-selected Round 1 images are Judged, and Clubs use those results to gauge what the Judges were ‘going for’ on the day before making their final selections.
• Clubs then require to select 15 images to represent them in the Plate Competition Final from their Bank of Images
• Clubs can reuse or replace any images previously used in Round 1.
• All high scoring Images entered into either Round 1, or the Final will be considered for the Individual Awards.

The total score received from the Final 15 images will give the final Plate Competition Club Placings, and winners of the The Plate Trophy.

Clubs compete for the ‘Ian Bowie Trophy’ as Best Bowie Championship Club, together with an invitation to represent the SPF at the PAGB Digital Championship for the winning Club and Runner-Up as the PAGB pre-qualifier event. The following will also be awarded – Winner, SPF Gold Medal; Runner-Up, SPF Silver Medal; 3rd Place SPF Bronze Medal.

• Clubs require to upload a Bank of Images (40 images max. NB Only 20 are required to compete, but the extra images allow more choice for your final round selection) to the SPF website.
• All Nature images that comply with the SPF Nature Definition* should be marked as Nature when uploading your Bank of Images. These images will then be eligible for the Best Nature Award. *Please see SPF Nature Definition supplied later in these rules.
• No Club may have more than 4 nature** images in Round 1, and no more than 5 nature images in their Final round. **this includes all images that ‘look like nature’ even if they do not comply with the SPF Nature Definition.
• Clubs then require to pre-select 15 images for Round 1 from their Bank of Images in advance from those uploaded to the website.

On the Day

• These pre-selected Round 1 images are Judged and Clubs use those results to gauge what the Judges were ‘going for’ on the day before making their final selections.
• Clubs then require to select 20 images to represent them in the Bowie Competition Final from their Bank of Images
• Clubs can reuse or replace any images previously used in Round 1.
• All high scoring Images entered into either Round 1, or the Final will be considered for the Overall Individual Awards.

The total score received from the Final 20 images will give the final Bowie Competition Club Placings, winners of the Ian Bowie Trophy and the Invitations to represent the SPF at PAGB Warwick.

The competition is open to all SPF Clubs, the entry to be collated and submitted by one person from the Club, usually the competition secretary. 

Please Note the changes to Club Member eligibility from Sept 2022 onward as previously noted to Clubs by email re Scottish Residency and the requirement for members to only submit via one Club to SPF competitions. See the document SPF Club Members and Eligibility to enter SPF or PAGB Competitions available on the above downloads area or go to the following webpage for a copy and added details (click here)

Club access to the Online Area is by following the link provided by email to the Club Competition Secretary or Secretary which will be sent out by the website as soon as the event is open for entries. Contact Libby if you do not receive this. Please Note - We need to be kept up to date on any changes to these Committee Posts for your Club to gain access when required. You can also Log in at Admin Login area at the foot of this page if you have previously set a password and are listed as the Competition Secretary for this event.

Club secretaries are asked to collate their club entry. We ask for the club person collating the entries to supply their contact details, and address in case of any queries during processing. We do not need any information about the author other than their name.

Online Entry Guidance Notes (illustrated) for this competition, are available as a PDF on the button above (under 2023 Event Downloads) - Please have a look now before completing your entry as some stages can't be corrected if an error is made. NB - NEW NOTES NOW AVAILABLE FOR 2023 COMPETITION

The entry fee for 2023 is £20. Please make cheques payable to the ‘Scottish Photographic Federation’ and send with a printed copy of your completed form that will be available after processing, to arrive with the Joe Prior by the deadline given in the Rules.

Entry will be via online entry upload of images through our website.

You require to decide which of the Competition you wish to compete in 'The Plate Competition' or 'The Bowie Competition'. You cannot compete in both. 

You will require to enter via the online option for the Competition your Club has chosen to enter. Please see full rules for quantities and restrictions for each competition.

You will only have to size your image; there will be no need to filename in a particular way. You will simply be entering an image title and author name for each image up to the maximum allowed for the competition you are entering

Only Nature images eligible for the Best Nature Award that fully comply with the SPF Nature Definition must be indicated in the column provided. See Nature Definition and further details supplied as part of this event's Full Rules available from the downloads area above.

Please see the full rules for the number of nature images allowed in the first round and the final - remember this should be counted as all images that look like nature, (i.e.those not obviously creative - See PAGB Nature Definition for mor guidance) not solely those that comply with our SPF Nature definition for the Best Nature Award.

Full Rules available from the downloads area above. We have supplied a copy of our manual bank of images form for each competition (above) for your own use when collating the PDIs. 

Please Note the Online entry process  - You can upload your images by author, in any order you wish. You will then have one opportunity to reorder your bank of images (There is no opportunity to reorder your 'Round 1' separately) - Full Online Entry Guidance Notes are given above. The process is given below -

You can log in and out as often as you like, as long as you click SAVE before leaving the website.

Online Entry Guidance Notes (illustrated) for this competition, are available as a PDF on the above 2023 downloads area - Please have a look now before completing your entry as some stages can't now be corrected if an error is made. 

1 Upload all of your images by author. Please make sure that you do not exceed the number of Images for the Competition you wish to compete for (i.e. 'The Plate Trophy' OR 'The Bowie Trophy')

Don't worry about the order you upload them in you will be able to correct this later - and don't worry about the filenames - the website will take care of this Simply enter the Author's name (no distinctions please!)

- Size your image (max 1600 x 1200) save as an 8 bit jpeg and upload (sRGB colour space is recommended)

- Enter the 'title of the image' (as you would like it read out) in the box provided - no spaces or punctuation please

- Click SAVE Once you have entered all of your authors and their images (or after each author if you have a dodgy internet connection)

- Select your 'Round 1' entry (please refer to the Rules for restrictions per author and nature) Do not proceed to Step 2 until you are sure everything is correct - you won't be able to correct any images, titles or selections after this.

2 Order your Bank of Images and SAVE your new order. Note - There is no longer the facility to re-order your 'Round 1' Images separately

3 Once you are sure everything is correct SUBMIT your Entry.

4 Print Off and send us your paperwork as directed in the Rules, and also your Entry Fee payment by Cheque (made payable to 'SPF') Remember to keep copies of the paperwork for yourself as none will be available to you on the day.

Need something to fill a Club Night? - If your Club didn’t enter our SPF ‘Interim’ Digital Championship, this is your chance to see loads of great images from those Clubs who did.

A DVD containing a show (in two parts 40 mins each) is now available to order from 10th April 2021 (Supplied in both MP4 and P2Exe formats for MAC & PC) To receive a copy of the 2020 SPF Interim Digital Championship DVD Please download and complete the Booking Form supplied below and return it together with your payment of £10 (cheque payable to SPF) to George Taylor who's details are supplied with the form.

Please Note - Clubs who entered will receive a copy for free direct (posted week ending 4th April). You can check if your Club entered by checking the Clubs results details below.

As we were unable to hold our SPF Digital Championship Judging in November at SCH due to Covid restrictions, we were forced to consider an alternative format for this year’s event. As well as accommodating ‘remote’ judging, the new format had to allow all image selections to be made in advance, and not as they would have traditionally been done for this Championship, largely on the day.

We had no idea how many images Clubs would have available to them to choose from to enable them to enter this competition, and we wanted as many Clubs as possible to be able to enter, so we split the Championship into two separate Competitions, rather than the usual one. These were ‘The Plate Trophy’ requiring 15 images, and ‘The Ian Bowie Trophy’ requiring 20 images. These competitions are named after the two Trophies normally presented at our SPF Digital Championship. Clubs themselves decided which competition to enter dependent on the images and authors available to them.

A total of 36 Clubs entered, which is a great response considering the situation we all find ourselves in, particularly as we normally average 28 to 30 Clubs for our usual championship format. It’s great to see a few Clubs entered for the first time, and most of those Clubs have at least one image in the top scoring shortlist we’ll see later, so we hope this will encourage them to enter again in the future.

Once all of the 36 Clubs had completed their entries online, the images were downloaded and split into the two separate competitions. Each Club’s entries were then distributed evenly throughout the competition they’d chosen to compete in (i.e. the 1st image from each Club, then the 2nd image and so on..)

The two competitions were then sent independently to each Judge to score using Adobe Bridge’s star rating facility. After scoring, each Judge returned their star rated images, and the SPF assigned score values to each Judge’s star rated images (5* = 10; 4* =8; 3* =6; 2* =4) and added the two to give the total score for each image (Maximum of 20; minimum of 8). These total scores were then used to calculate the Club Results and give the Shortlist of Images for the Individual Awards selection by the Judges.

18 Clubs competed for each Trophy meaning our Judges had a mammoth task of Judging a total of 630 images between the two sections.

The resultant quality however was high with 34 images from 12 Plate Clubs, and 62 images from 17 Clubs in the Ian Bowie, achieving the maximum score. These 96 images formed the shortlist for the Individual Awards to be selected from by our Judges. To celebrate our 100th e-flash newsletter we awarded an additional SPF Bronze Medal to the Best Image from the Judge's Shortlist of images, as voted on by the e-flash readers, the e-flash 100 Medal. You can download a copy of the Individual Awards presented below, or visit the following gallery to see these Awards, together with the e-flash 100 Medal (click here)

The Club Results were calculated as follows -

In the Plate Trophy – 12 Image scores counted (8 of which were selected to count by the Club) and the remaining 4 highest images.

In the Ian Bowie - 16 Image scores counted (8 of which were selected to count by the Club) and the remaining 8 highest images.

The full list of Club placings, including details of the winning Clubs in both 'The Plate, and 'The Ian Bowie' are available to download below or visit 'The Ian Bowie Trophy Gallery' (click here) or 'The Plate Trophy Gallery' (click here) where you will see the entries from the top 3 Club placings.

We held a 'Zoom' Awards Presentation event' on Saturday 30th January 2021, where we announced both the Club Results and Individual Awards. This was attended by our two Judges Andrea Hargreaves MPAGB EFIAP/b BPE3 PSA4 and Marilyn Roberts DPAGB BPE3 from the Yorkshire Photographic Union. Together with 205 SPF attendees on Zoom, they were welcomed by the SPF President, Gordon Rae, who led the afternoon's proceedings.

Libby Smith went on to announce the Club final scores and winners, before showing the top placed Club entries follwed by the 96 images that the Judges had given maximum scores. The 'e-flash 100 Medal' results were then announced by e-flash editor Rod Wheelans as chosen by the e-flash newletter readers. Finally Gordon announced the Individual Awards, which were shown then commented on by the Judges in turn. It was great to see that all of the Medal winners were able to attend the event.

A self-executing show, showing all of the competing Clubs’ entries (that counted towards their final placings) will be supplied free in February 2021, to each Club that entered. If your Club would like a copy, but didn't enter, please contact Libby for details.

This will not be a Pre-Qualifying event for the PAGB Digital Championship in 2021, so any images used in this ‘Interim’ event will be eligible to be re-used in our next Digital Championship run under our ‘normal’ rules, provided they have not won an Individual Award in this ‘Interim’ event.

The 2018 SPF Digital Championship was held on Sunday 18th Nov 2018 at Stirling Court Hotel. 27 Clubs competed in the Competition, although many more Clubs were represented in the audience on the day. The Judges for this event were Roger Hance FRPS EFIAP BPE5 from Colchester (EAF), Tillman Kleinhans ARPS DPAGB EFIAP/b BPE2 from St Helens (L&CPU) and David Butler MFIAP EPSA from Wigan (L&CPU).

All of the Award Winning Images are shown here. Galleries of all of the Individual Awards can be viewed (click here) or view the Plate winning Club's entries (click here) and the Overall Winning Club's entries (click here)

Details of the Club and Individual Awards  are available for download below. You can also download all of the Scores for Round 1 and Round 2 along with the placings and scores for the Plate Competition and Final Competition.

The 2017 SPF Digital Championship was held on Sunday 19th Nov 2017 at Stirling Court Hotel. 27 Clubs competed in the Competition, although many more Clubs were represented in the audience on the day. This year it was part of our Celtic Challenge Weekend, where the Celtic nations come together to contest the Celtic Challenge Trophy.

The Judges for this year's event were; Colin Trow-Poole MPAGB FRPS FIPF from Arden, MCPF and Gwen and Phil Charnock FRPS MFIAP from Wigan, L&CPU. The final results can be found below. 

A full gallery of the Award winning images is available to view in our gallery area (click here), along with the Plate Trophy winning Clubs (click here) and Ian Bowie Memorial Trophy winning Club (click here).

The 2016 SPF Digital Championship was held on Sunday 13th Nov 2016 at Stirling Court Hotel. 26 Clubs competed in this competition. 

The Judges for this year's event were - 

Howard Tate MA(Phot) ARPS AFIAP from YPU

Kathryn Scorah MPAGB FBPE from L&CPU

Tony Potter ARPS EFIAP/pl GMPSA DPAGB APAGB from NCPF

A full gallery of the Award winning images is available to view in our gallery area (click here), along with the Plate Trophy winning Club (click here) and Ian Bowie Memorial Trophy winning Club (click here).

The 2015 SPF Digital Championship was held on 22nd November 2015 at Stirling Court Hotel, Stirling University, Stirling FK9 4LA.

The three Judges for 2015 were -

Jane Lines MPAGB LRPS BPE4 from Chorley, Lancashire & Cheshire PU

Adrian Lines MPAGB FBPE EFIAP from Chorley, Lancashire & Cheshire PU

Gordon Jenkins APAGB from Chorley, Lancashire & Cheshire PU

Visit our Gallery for more of the top and winning Club's images from the 2015 Digital Championship (click here)