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Most of the rules are unchanged from Film Photographer of the Year (FPOTY) 2018 & 2019 but there is a new scoring system in place this year. There are also additional rules for the returning Mystery Month.
Overview-
FPOTY is a year long competition divided into 12 smaller monthly competitions, or “themes”. The monthly thread opens for entries on the first of each calendar month and closes at 23.59 on the final day of that same month. Entries are required to be posted (not taken, see below) in the specific thread for that theme by the closing date and time.
A photo may be taken from the time the themes are announced on 1st December 2019, until the final day of the month for that theme. For example, January’s entry may be taken between 1st December 2019 and 31st January 2020, and October’s entry can be taken between 1st December 2019 and 31st October 2020.
The exception to this is Mystery Month which will take place in June 2020. The subject for mystery month will be randomly selected, by an independent party, from a subset of the remaining undrawn themes. The subset list will only be made up of themes that should be accessible to all potential entrants irrespective of factors such as equipment, location, time of year etc. The theme will be announced on 1st of that month. In this instance all entrants will have just that one month to take, develop, scan and enter their photo by the closing time of 23.59 on 30th June.
After the theme has closed, a poll will be added to allow users to vote on their choices to win that month’s theme. Please note that any member of the Talk Photography forum can vote, not just those who have entered or F&C regulars. This poll will typically appear on the first day of the next month, with some leeway as the organiser might be unavailable for a day or two. Ordinarily, it will remain open for seven calendar days after which it will close automatically, unless the organiser has to close it early due to known unavailability such as holiday. If this is the case, the organiser will announce this in the discussion thread prior to opening the poll.
Once the poll has closed, the organiser will count up the votes for each competitor and add the results to the year to date table. The overall theme winner and point scorers will be announced and the up to date table displayed.
After every theme is complete, and the year is finished, the overall winner of FPOTY 2020 will be the person on the highest amount of points scored over the year.
In the event of an overall tie the number of monthly wins will be counted to decide the winner, in the unlikely event that there is still a tie the number of 2nd place finishes will be counted etc etc etc.
There is no prize apart from being able to brag about it at the next F&C meet!
Rules:
Entries
All images entered in FPOTY 2020 must have been taken by you.
All images entered must be TAKEN ON FILM and on or after the 1st December 2019 when the themes are unveiled. The date the photo is taken is defined as the day the shutter is pressed to record the image to film, not the date the film was scanned etc.
The exception to this is Mystery Month, which will take place in June 2020. The theme will be announced on the 1st June and the photos must be TAKEN ON FILM on or after that date.
Digital scans of film are obviously acceptable, but so are scans of wet prints, scans of Polaroids, or even a photogram if you’re feeling particularly brave. Lab developing or scanning of films is perfectly acceptable.
Anyone can enter this competition at any time, providing that all the rules are met. You do not need to sign up or do anything except post a suitable film photo in the thread for the theme.
One entry per competitor per month.
Entries cannot be changed once submitted. However, if you find that Flickr etc over sharpens your image or a similar issue, then you are free to re-upload the image again with small changes to make sure that it looks it’s best on the theme thread. To clarify, you cannot change your image for another one, but you can re-upload the same image again with minor amendments which affect the way it’s displayed.
Ideally entries should be safe for work. Entries which are NSFW can still be submitted providing that they meet the forum rules, but they should be posted as a link rather than embedded in the thread. They must have a note to say that they are NSFW In order to help people keep their jobs if they’re at work on their lunch, or browsing the forum next to their family etc.
There are no restrictions on the interpretation of a theme, but be aware that other members who are voting may not share your elastic interpretation and vote accordingly.
Votes
The number of votes that each user is able to use is equal to one third of the number of entries, rounded down. For example, 14 entries means 4 votes, 18 entries means 6 votes, and 23 entries means 7 votes.
You do not have to use all of your votes, but it is encouraged in order to get enough votes overall to define the top 10 places.
Votes are private, and who you vote for cannot be seen by other members.
When voting, please remember that this is a friendly competition between forum members. Please do not vote for yourself! (I realise this is unenforceable and it also shouldn’t need to be said!). Other than that, the ethics of tactical voting aren’t going to be discussed here as we’re all adults and can decide what’s right and wrong on our own.
Points
This year the point system has been completely overhauled and points will awarded for the top 10 shots.
The scoring will be the same as the system used in Formula 1
1st place will receive 25 points
2nd place 18 points
3rd 15
4th 12
5th 10
6th 8
7th 6
8th 4
9th 2
10th 1
Unlike this year where entries without votes still received points, that will not happen next year, if an entry receives no votes then no points will be awarded.
In the event of a tie, eg two entries scoring the same votes for 3rd place they will each receive 15 points and there will be no points awarded for 4th place
The year to date table will be sorted by total number of points.
Themes
It’s finally time for the big reveal! The themes for 2020 are:
1 January - Openings
2 February - Mostly black
3 March - Wild
4 April - Ruin
5 May - Patterns & structures in nature
6 June - Mystery Month ***Bokeh or blurry or if I was taking part I’d call it “that indefinable outoffocusness”***
7 July - Stranger portrait
8 August - Vintage
9 September - Negative space
10 October - Ascending / Descending
11 November - Fire
12 December - Rule of thirds
Please do not reply to this thread. Discussion to be kept in the discussion thread here
Overview-
FPOTY is a year long competition divided into 12 smaller monthly competitions, or “themes”. The monthly thread opens for entries on the first of each calendar month and closes at 23.59 on the final day of that same month. Entries are required to be posted (not taken, see below) in the specific thread for that theme by the closing date and time.
A photo may be taken from the time the themes are announced on 1st December 2019, until the final day of the month for that theme. For example, January’s entry may be taken between 1st December 2019 and 31st January 2020, and October’s entry can be taken between 1st December 2019 and 31st October 2020.
The exception to this is Mystery Month which will take place in June 2020. The subject for mystery month will be randomly selected, by an independent party, from a subset of the remaining undrawn themes. The subset list will only be made up of themes that should be accessible to all potential entrants irrespective of factors such as equipment, location, time of year etc. The theme will be announced on 1st of that month. In this instance all entrants will have just that one month to take, develop, scan and enter their photo by the closing time of 23.59 on 30th June.
After the theme has closed, a poll will be added to allow users to vote on their choices to win that month’s theme. Please note that any member of the Talk Photography forum can vote, not just those who have entered or F&C regulars. This poll will typically appear on the first day of the next month, with some leeway as the organiser might be unavailable for a day or two. Ordinarily, it will remain open for seven calendar days after which it will close automatically, unless the organiser has to close it early due to known unavailability such as holiday. If this is the case, the organiser will announce this in the discussion thread prior to opening the poll.
Once the poll has closed, the organiser will count up the votes for each competitor and add the results to the year to date table. The overall theme winner and point scorers will be announced and the up to date table displayed.
After every theme is complete, and the year is finished, the overall winner of FPOTY 2020 will be the person on the highest amount of points scored over the year.
In the event of an overall tie the number of monthly wins will be counted to decide the winner, in the unlikely event that there is still a tie the number of 2nd place finishes will be counted etc etc etc.
There is no prize apart from being able to brag about it at the next F&C meet!
Rules:
Entries
All images entered in FPOTY 2020 must have been taken by you.
All images entered must be TAKEN ON FILM and on or after the 1st December 2019 when the themes are unveiled. The date the photo is taken is defined as the day the shutter is pressed to record the image to film, not the date the film was scanned etc.
The exception to this is Mystery Month, which will take place in June 2020. The theme will be announced on the 1st June and the photos must be TAKEN ON FILM on or after that date.
Digital scans of film are obviously acceptable, but so are scans of wet prints, scans of Polaroids, or even a photogram if you’re feeling particularly brave. Lab developing or scanning of films is perfectly acceptable.
Anyone can enter this competition at any time, providing that all the rules are met. You do not need to sign up or do anything except post a suitable film photo in the thread for the theme.
One entry per competitor per month.
Entries cannot be changed once submitted. However, if you find that Flickr etc over sharpens your image or a similar issue, then you are free to re-upload the image again with small changes to make sure that it looks it’s best on the theme thread. To clarify, you cannot change your image for another one, but you can re-upload the same image again with minor amendments which affect the way it’s displayed.
Ideally entries should be safe for work. Entries which are NSFW can still be submitted providing that they meet the forum rules, but they should be posted as a link rather than embedded in the thread. They must have a note to say that they are NSFW In order to help people keep their jobs if they’re at work on their lunch, or browsing the forum next to their family etc.
There are no restrictions on the interpretation of a theme, but be aware that other members who are voting may not share your elastic interpretation and vote accordingly.
Votes
The number of votes that each user is able to use is equal to one third of the number of entries, rounded down. For example, 14 entries means 4 votes, 18 entries means 6 votes, and 23 entries means 7 votes.
You do not have to use all of your votes, but it is encouraged in order to get enough votes overall to define the top 10 places.
Votes are private, and who you vote for cannot be seen by other members.
When voting, please remember that this is a friendly competition between forum members. Please do not vote for yourself! (I realise this is unenforceable and it also shouldn’t need to be said!). Other than that, the ethics of tactical voting aren’t going to be discussed here as we’re all adults and can decide what’s right and wrong on our own.
Points
This year the point system has been completely overhauled and points will awarded for the top 10 shots.
The scoring will be the same as the system used in Formula 1
1st place will receive 25 points
2nd place 18 points
3rd 15
4th 12
5th 10
6th 8
7th 6
8th 4
9th 2
10th 1
Unlike this year where entries without votes still received points, that will not happen next year, if an entry receives no votes then no points will be awarded.
In the event of a tie, eg two entries scoring the same votes for 3rd place they will each receive 15 points and there will be no points awarded for 4th place
The year to date table will be sorted by total number of points.
Themes
It’s finally time for the big reveal! The themes for 2020 are:
1 January - Openings
2 February - Mostly black
3 March - Wild
4 April - Ruin
5 May - Patterns & structures in nature
6 June - Mystery Month ***Bokeh or blurry or if I was taking part I’d call it “that indefinable outoffocusness”***
7 July - Stranger portrait
8 August - Vintage
9 September - Negative space
10 October - Ascending / Descending
11 November - Fire
12 December - Rule of thirds
Please do not reply to this thread. Discussion to be kept in the discussion thread here
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