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The British Splash-In Championship - 2009, organised by the British Society of Underwater Photographers (BSoUP) in association with the National Marine Aquarium, will take place on Saturday 4 July at Mount Batten and the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth, Devon. All underwater photographers are invited to participate, whether they are members of BSoUP or not.
Prizes, trophies and individual awards will be presented for winning images in each category as judged by the audience present (see below for full details). In addition, a grand prize will be awarded by an independent panel of judges for the image selected as the best taken in local waters.
Viewing and judging of the images entered will take place at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth on the Saturday night.
REGISTRATION
If you want to participate in the BBQ on Saturday evening please register your intention to attend by Wednesday 24 June latest (sooner if possible). If you have not registered in advance we cannot guarantee BBQ tickets.
If you want to take part in the Splash-In, but do not want the BBQ, you may register on 3 or 4 July, although we would prefer you to register in advance.
Please register by one of the following methods:
- registering online
- emailing martha@mtressler.com with a completed entry form
- sending an entry form by post to Martha Tressler at the address on the entry form
ENTRY FORM
Download either On-the-Day.doc OR On-the-Day.pdf
SPLASH-IN CATEGORIES
There are four categories; Close-Up, Wide-Angle, Animal Portrait and Humorous.
A maximum of four images per entrant, two in any one category for the first three categories are allowed. In addition, each photographer may enter one image for the Humorous category.
Images entered in the Close-Up, Wide-Angle and Animal Portrait categories will also be entered in the overall competition for the grand prize to be chosen by a panel of judges.
Splash-In category definitions
1. Close-Up - photograph taken of an area in front of the camera A4 size or less.
2. Wide-Angle - photograph taken of an area in front of the camera greater than A4 size.
3. Animal Portrait - photograph in which a fish or other marine animal is the main focus of the image.
4. Humorous - any form of image manipulation including composite images (several images joined together) is allowed as long as all of the components were taken in the sea.
Beginners
In addition awards will be made to the Best Beginner in each category, and to an overall Best Beginner as selected by the audience. A beginner is defined as someone who has not come first, second or third in a national or international competition, such as BSoUP's Open and Beginners Portfolio Competitions, BSoUP or St Abbs splash-ins, Image, BUIF, U/W Photographer of the Year, Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Marine Conservation Society etc. Please identify yourself on the entry form if you qualify.
RULES
1. Each competitor must be at the Hotel Mount Batten in the bar between 8.30 -10.00 pm on Friday 3 July to register and pay their entrance fee, demonstrate that their memory card is empty and take a photograph of the numbered BSoUP identification card(s). If a competitor can not arrive on Friday night and wishes to register on Saturday morning this can be arranged but must be specially requested in advance.
2. Competitors may take as many images as they wish, as long as they are on memory cards which have been registered (more than one memory card may be used). Images may be taken in any format but entries must be entered in JPEG format (see 6 below for more details).
3. Two stations will be available for competitors to hand their chosen images in on Saturday afternoon - between 5:00 and 6:15 pm at the Mount Batten (exact location to be confirmed), or between 5.30 and 6.30 pm at the National Aquarium. NO IMAGES WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER 6:15 AT MOUNT BATTEN OR AFTER 6:30 AT THE AQUARIUM. Images may be downloaded to the competitor's own computer to check quality, and to perform any whole image optimisation as defined below, prior to downloading to BSoUP's computer.
4. MINIMAL digital manipulation using sharpening, colour correction, brightness and contrast adjustment may be made to the whole image ONLY except in the Humorous category (see below). No cropping is allowed. The BSoUP committee members present at the event reserve the right to examine the original untouched image. Their opinion as to whether an image submitted for the competition is eligible will be final. In addition, the judges for the grand prize also reserve the right to examine the untouched images on their shortlist to determine whether the amount of post production affects their choice
5. Original, unchanged images must be kept on the card for 24 hours after the vote for the organisers to review if requested, to ensure that they were taken on the competition day and have not been changed other than as allowed by the rules.
6. Images should be submitted in JPEG format at a maximum size of 1400 pixels wide or 1050 pixels high, and with a resolution of 72 dpi. If downloaded straight from a card, they will be resized and rotated as applicable in Photoshop by the organisers. File names should comprise the photographer's name and the category, eg "MTresslerCloseUp1, MTresslerCloseUp2, etc.
7. Submitted entries will be projected later in the evening at the National Marine Aquarium and judged by the audience present. At the same time the winner of the grand prize will be chosen from all entries in the Close-Up, Wide-Angle and Animal Portrait categories by an independent panel of judges.
8. BSoUP reserves the right to publish winning images both in the society magazine and on the website. Winning images may also be used in future promotional material such as magazine publications for the event royalty free, but copyright remains with the photographer.
9. The organisers' decision on any matters arising from these rules shall be final.
PRIZES, TROPHIES AND INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
A total of 4 trophies and 11 individual awards will be awarded.
1. All entries in the Close-Up, Wide-Angle and Animal Portrait competition categories will be eligible for the grand prize of a one week liveaboard holiday in the Red Sea donated by Scuba Travel, which will be selected by an independent panel of judges comprising Neil Hope (Deputy Picture Editor, Western Morning News), Mark Webster (Freelance Author, Photo-journalist and Underwater Photographer) and Linda Pitkin (Author, Photo-journalist and Underwater Photographer).
2. The winning Close-Up image will receive the Sport Diver Trophy and an Olympus Mju Tough 8000 digital camera donated by Olympus UK.
3. The winning Wide-Angle image will receive the Alan James Digital Image Trophy and an Olympus Mju Tough 8000 digital camera donated by Olympus UK.
4. The winning Animal Portrait image will receive the BSoUP Trophy and an Olympus Mju Tough 8000 digital camera donated by Olympus UK.
5. The winning Humorous image will receive the AP Valves Trophy and Buddy BCD, donated by AP Valves
6. The Best Beginner will receive a choice of a canvas print of one of their images or a free place on a one day course run by Maria Munn of Ocean Visions.
7. The runner up and the best beginner in each category will receive a copy of the book ‘The Underwater Photographer’ by Martin Edge, donated by the publisher Focal Press, or ‘Dive: The Ultimate Guide’ by Monty Halls, donated by the publisher Ultimate Sports.
Sponsorship for running costs of the competition is being provided by Sport Diver magazine
INDIVIDUAL TROPHIES
1. The winner of the grand prize will receive an acrylic trophy.
2. The winner and runner-up in each category, excluding Humorous, will receive individual acrylic trophies.
3. The winner of the Humorous category will receive an individual acrylic trophy.
4. The Best Beginner in each of the Close-Up, Wide Angle and Animal Portrait categories, and the overall Best Beginner will receive individual acrylic trophies.
TIMETABLE SUMMARY
Wednesday 24 June
Deadline for voluntary advance registration for the Splash-In.
Deadline to book Saturday evening BBQ meal tickets.
Friday 3 July
Saturday 4 July
| 17.00-18:15 |
Digital entries at Mount Batten (exact location to be confirmed)
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17:45-18:30 |
Digital entries at the National Marine Aquarium. When registering for the Splash-In on Friday night please advise if you want to enter images at the Aquarium.
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| 18:30 |
Bar opens at the Aquarium
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19:00-20:00 |
BBQ at the Aquarium
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20:30 |
Projection of slides, digital images and judging at the Aquarium.
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21:15-22:15 |
Break to have a drink, socialise and see some of the Aquarium while votes are counted.
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22:15 |
Announcement of winners and presentation of awards
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23:00 |
Evening ends (coach will return to Mount Batten). |
VOLUNTEERS PLEASE
The Society would be pleased to hear from any member or guest who will be at Mount Batten or the National Marine Aquarium on the day of the competition and would be willing to help in any way. Volunteers are required to hand out voting slips, count votes, answer enquiries etc. Please contact any committee member if you would be willing to help your Society on this busy weekend.
SAFETY
All participants are reminded that diving safety is their responsibility. BSoUP recommend that all diving be carried out in accordance with currently accepted codes of practice. BSoUP cannot accept liability for any incident arising from the event.
If you are diving in Plymouth Sound you should use a Surface Marker Buoy at all times.
SPONSORS
BSoUP extends its thanks to Tony Backhurst Scuba, the National Marine Aquarium, Olympus UK, AP Valves, Ocean Visions, Sport Diver, Ultimate Sports and Focal Press.
BSoUP also extend its thanks to Alan James Photography, Sport Diver and AP Valves, who have each provided trophies for the competition.
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