Digital Image Submission

Professional Photographers of East Tennessee’s digital image submissions are managed via PrintCompetition.com, which provides a robust interface for managing our image competitions. Entrants are required to create an account on printcompetition.com and register to participate.

Competitions are open to anyone; however, only dues-paying PPETN members are eligible for awards.

PPETN dues-paying members will pay a lower price for their entries. Join PPETN now if you are not a member. 

There is a minimal fee ($14/year) per person to use their site. You may also choose to have a premium membership ($18/quarter). The premium membership allows you to listen to all audio from any competition on the site. It is well worth the fee for the knowledge you can gain.

Here’s how to get started with PrintCompetition.com:

Image Provided Courtesy of Colby McLemore

Registration Deadlines and Fees

Registration opens 30 days before the event date. Deadlines for submission and payments will be announced for each competition.

Cost per image entry:

  • $10 per image for dues-paying PPETN members
  • $15 per image for anyone who does not pay PPETN dues

A maximum of 10 images may be submitted per entrant per competition. The total size of the image includes your matting and guide images where required. Entries are allowed until the deadline or until capacity is reached; no refunds will be issued after the entry fee is paid.

How to Connect Your Account and Upload Images:

  • Log on to printcompetition.com and choose the PPETN logo for the competition.
  • Upload your images making sure to enter a title for each image. 
  • Choose a category from the list below for each image. Select categories require guide images, so please make sure to read the rules before entering.
  • All fees are paid through the Print Competition website; entries are not considered complete and secured until paid.

Frozen in Time Provided Courtesy of Elena Ganusova

Image Entry Eligibility

  • Entrants must have captured and created the original exposure except in the Artist category where guide images are allowed.
  • 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. Any entries that use images produced by other artists must be accompanied by that artist’s written permission. Guide images are required for all elements used for image creation and must be included on the face of the presentation either below or along the side of the entry. Images with outside elements automatically go into the Artist category. Raw files must be provided if requested.
  • Copyrighted materials such as company logos or well-known characters (e.g. Grinch, Mickey Mouse, Barbie) are not permitted. 
  • All processing, manipulation, and rendering must be done by the entrant or under the entrant’s direct supervision.
  • Due to pending litigation surrounding some AI image generators, those outside of the Adobe engine are not permitted to be used. 
  • The entrant must have obtained all necessary releases (model or property). Public Events do not require a model or property release as it is implied by attending a public event that you might be photographed. Street Photography does require a model release if the model is the predominant subject of the image. Any photograph of a person under the age of 18 MUST have a model release signed by parents if they are the primary subject of the image. The release must be available if requested by the Image Competition Committee.

Dr. Seuss Starry Night Provided Courtesy of Thea Martin

  • Multiple entries of the same subject may be entered if a substantive change has been made between the images. Substantive changes would include the background, location, outfit, or hair and makeup.
  • Images entered in the Reportage/Photojournalism division or category must be un-retouched except for edits that could be done in a traditional dark room such as: dodging, burning, cropping, and conversion to black and white.  No sharpening or noise reduction is allowed in this category. Any other retouching will result in the disqualification of the image. Nothing may be added to or removed from the image except when cropping. RAW files must be made available to the image competition committee upon request.

Image Sizing Requirements

  • Files must be sized so the longest dimension is 4,000 pixels. Each file must contain an embedded color profile of either sRGB or AdobeRGB and be saved at a JPEG quality setting of 10. 
  • Note about DPI: DPI is a term used for print specifications and is not relevant to digital-only images. A high-quality jpg with the appropriate pixel dimension of 4000 on the long edge will yield the proper result.

Echoes Provided Courtesy of Thea Martin

Entering Images

The image’s filename should be the title of the image.

An underscore is to be used as a placeholder for a space in the title.

Examples:

  • Spot_The_Dog
  •  My_Favorite_Day
  • See_Harold_Run

Entrant’s name/studio/initials should not be included in the file name or the entry will be rejected. Entrant’s watermark or logo should not be included on the face of the image.

Need more Guidance for Titling? Click here.

Checked Mates Provided Courtesy of Arlissa Gentry

Entries should be presented with a digital mat or finished as a framed image. As defined by PPA, presentation is the way an image is showcased that gives it a finished look. Everything in the presentation—mats, borders, color choices—should work to enhance the image. 

Need more Guidance for Matting? Click here.

Entries Not Allowed

  • If an entry, in the good-faith opinion of the PPETN Image Competition Committee, violates copyright, trademark, or any other applicable law, that entry will be disqualified. This includes, but is not limited to, images that are illegally photographed on train tracks in the United States.
  • No images photographed at a PPETN- or TNPPA-sponsored workshop or event will be eligible. 
  • No entry will be eligible that has been made under the direct supervision of an instructor.
  • Images that scored 80 or above in a previous PPETN Image Competition may not be entered.
  • Images that have been selected for the World Cup Competition or have achieved Top 32 designation for IPC (International Photographic Competition) are not eligible. 
  • Images that received a score of 80 or above at TNPPA competition, or a Merit/Loan/Imaging Excellence Award at PPA  at prior to 2023 (pre-Merit Image Review) may not be entered.
  • Any entry that has been produced or created 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 accepted.

Image Provided Courtesy of Colby McLemore

Competition Judging

Image judging will begin at or after the scheduled competition start time, and once all judges are signed into the online competition system.

Entries will be judged in random order.

Scoring will be based on the following standards:

  • 95-100 Exceptional
  •  90-94 Superior
  •  85-89 Excellent
  •  80-84 Deserving of a Merit
  •  75-79 Above Average
  •  70-74 Average
  •  60-65 Below Exhibition Standards

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.

Image Provided Courtesy of Colby McLemore

The 12 Elements of A Merit Image 

Lisa Dillion (yes, our PPETN judge Lisa Dillion!!) and Bryan Welsh created this mindmap to help photographers understand what criteria the judges will be evaluating each image on during an image competition. There are a total of 12 elements that are assessed for each image:

Impact | Technical Excellence | Creativity | Style | Composition | Presentation

Color Balance | Center of Interest | Lighting | Subject Matter | Technique | Story Telling

12 Elements of a Merit Image Mindmap created by Lisa Dillion and Bryan Welsh

Critiques

Individual critiques are available for an additional charge of $7.50 per image. Entrants may pay for a critique up to 24 hours after the competition of the competition judging.

Please Note: Critiques are not available immediately and can take up to four weeks to be processed. If you have ordered a critique, you will be notified via email when your critique(s) are available.

Buried Moon Provided Courtesy of Karen Fox

The Fine Print

  • All entries are non-refundable. 
  • The Competition Committee may recategorize any image deemed miscategorized before awards are decided.
  • No exceptions or extensions will be granted for any reason.  
  • Any image that violates these stated rules and deadlines will be disqualified and may not be judged. No refunds will be granted for disqualified images.
  • If a subcategory receives fewer than 3 images, those images may be recategorized by the image competition committee into an “open” category or another category that fits.
  • A competitor shall not interfere with the live evaluation of images by contacting the 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 image competition committee has the option to disqualify any or all images the maker contacted the juror or committee member about.
  • Artificial Intelligence Statement: No entry in any category except the artist 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.
  • The Image Competition Committee reserves the authority to make the final decision on any issue not specifically covered by these stated rules. Any entries not following these rules may be disqualified before, during, or after the competition.