The 2012 Photographic competition was again a success, though an event in Scotland took several entrants (and winners) away for the weekend, which was an unfortunate clash. The overall winner was John Birtill with his photo of Finn seconding his dad on "Fang" on Gouther Crag. We'll be moving the winning entries into a "Competition winners" category Real Soon Now™ and hopefully adding photographer credit and any description entrants submitted so you'll know what the photo is about (this is a bit of an issue as it needs admin access, so there's only a couple of people who can do it, but I hope we'll get there in a few days...), . Those who didn't submit a description will just get a comment to that effect - there's still time to send in a bit of context if you haven't already done so. In the meantime (as it seems to be a bit of a delay...), here are the results. Clicking on any of the images should open the fullsize photo (or video) in a new window (or tab).

Club Activity
		First place: "Finn seconding his dad on 'Fang', Gouther Crag" Photographer: John Birtill
No description submitted
Second place: "Mat takes on Black Sail descent" Photographer: Judith Turner
No description submitted
		Third place: "Flamborough Head" Photographer: Pete Ball
September 2012 and the weather forced us to abandon a sea kayaking trip to Scotland, it would be too windy, rainy and misty. "Well we never paddle the Yorkshire coast" - no that's 'cos it's not very interesting!
The Great British Outdoors
First place: "Winter sunrise on the County Durham Skifields" Photographer: Andy Waddington
Snow doesn't always last long locally, especially if it's fallen to low levels, so it's best to get out on skis early whilst the overnight frost ensures a crisp surface. This was a trip out with the dog only half a mile from home, with the sun just rising over the fields. Later in the day there was still snow on the tops, but down here it had mostly turned to mud.
		Second place: "Anticipation of a great day's walking" Photographer: Tricia Radcliffe
Setting out from the small but cosy Black Sail Youth Hostel is always a pleasure. The heart swells with the thought of ascending Windy Gap and the rocky scramble on to Great Gable.  Classic climbing routes are also to be enjoyed here.  Onwards to Kirk Fell and Pillar, where breathtaking views of other great mountains can be seen from these summits, along with the remote, wild valleys of Ennerdale and Wasdale.
Third place: "Winter sun over Swaledale" Photographer: Chris Stott
Taken one November morning 2011 from Fremington Edge looking east over Swaledale. Richmond and the Swale valley were filled with thick fog yet the tops were in clear bright sunshine.
SOC Abroad
		First place: "Recovering forest at Waldo Lake, Oregon" Photographer: Judith Turner
No description submitted
Second place: "Open boating in the Algonquin park, Canada" Photographer: Wendy Bridgstock
No description submitted
		Third place: "Cycling on a rocky road in Corsica" Photographer: Barbara Gravenor
No description submitted
Short videos
First place: "Mountain Biking in Fruita and Moab" Videographer: Sarah Bridge
		Second place: "Uganda White Nile: Day two run kayaking" Videographer: Andy Waddington
Third place: "SOC hits the trails in Scotland" Videographer: Alan Jackson
Overall winner: John Birtill

Those rating the photos seemed to do a good job of taking into account both the quality of the entries and the spirit of the categories, so photos that could equally well have gone in "Club Activity" didn't get high ratings in "Great British Outdoors" which was, indeed, intended for photos showing the places we might do our activities rather than the activities themselves. I'd very much welcome any feedback on the categories and suggestions for next year.

We only had three video entries, which was a little disappointing, only Canoe Section and Mountain Biking being represented. Whilst admittedly these are both fast action sports which make them good candidates for video entries, I'm sure other activities could also make for good video and I'd be keen to hear from any budding videographers from other sections as to why they felt that the competition wasn't for them this year with a view to making it more accessible to all sections in the future. The original restriction to three minutes, increased to four minutes this year, was to keep the competition night down to a reasonable duration when rather more entries were expected. Are potential entrants finding this length restriction too onerous ? Please let me know !

After three successful photographic competitions, 2010 to 2012 we'll be holding another one in 2013. Rules will be similar to previous contests, and we will be retaining the "club activity' and "short video" classes. We're still looking for feedback before fixing on two additional classes for still photos for 2013 to try to make entry equally attractive to all club sections and members, not just those at the top of their sport. Bear in mind this is a fun event and will not be as strictly judged as a photographic club competition might be. Equally, some entrants go to a lot of trouble to stick to the rules (keeping the videos under three minutes last year, for example) so it is not fair play to bend the rules and voters will probably hold it against you.

1. Club Activity (best representation of) to be taken on a Club Event
2. ??
3. ??
4. Short Video (the subject for videos should be club members involved in any of the activities covered by any of the club sections (interpreted fairly broadly), whether or not these are part of a programmed club meet)

There weren't many video entries last year, so we would like to try to encourage a few more people to have a go - and more of the club sections! If you want some pointers, there's a videos - hints and tips page with some ideas that have worked well for me - feel free to let me know if you have other ideas you'd like to share.

Each Club member can enter one photograph for each of categories 1 to 3. These should be digital still photographs (or scanned from film) and should be submitted accompanied by a short caption (no more than 10 words – if the caption is longer than 10 words then the organiser will edit it), and a longer description (up to 1000 characters, but a paragraph or two is all that is really needed) which will be added to the website gallery only after the results are announced (so don't worry about it giving away who took the photo, and it won't affect the judging). Ideally you'd want not to use the photographs elsewhere on the website before voting closes (as that would reduce their impact), but this may not be that important - the 2013 woverall winner had already been used in the climbing section gallery. Do feel free to include them with articles afterwards. We don't mind if you've submitted them for publication elsewhere, as long as you retain copyright so that you can give SOC permission to use them.

Judging of categories 1 to 3 will be based on photos we can show on the website, limited to either 1024x768 or 768x1024 (or, for squarer pictures, scaled to roughly 3/4 megapixel), so we don't have a bias against portrait-format pictures this year.. However, we'd prefer you let us have higher resolution copies and we should have a higher resolution projector (1920x1080) available to show off your photos on the night.

A "Club event" is defined for the purposes of this competition as an event which was advertised to club members via the programme or a mailing list and was open to all suitably skilled club members (rather than by private invitation, for example). That doesn't mean that the event had to be organised exclusively for club members...

All photographs in the "Club Activity" category should have been taken since October 1st 2012; videos should feature footage, the majority of which was taken since that date, and photos for the other two categories should have been taken since 1st October 2011.

Videos might be a compilation of footage taken by more than one person. The limit of one entry will apply to the person who was mainly responsible for compiling and producing the video – that individual may in addition contribute footage to other videos provided they are not the main compiler or producer. I don't think we want to be overly strict, so if there are two or three of you doing videos, sharing the shooting and editing, we'll be happy to see more than one - as long as there aren't more videos than major contributors!

Videos should be no longer than 4 minutes in total (including titles and credits). They are allowed to have sound tracks including pre-recorded music - getting permission to use such music is the responsibility of the entrant. Bear in mind that youtube can (and often do) remove or block videos if someone complains that you've used their copyright music. So far, we've linked videos from YouTube to show on the club site - if you use a different video host (vimeo for example), let us know early, as we may need to do some work on the website to support other hosts. If you can't put your video on youtube yourself, we can host it, as long as you give us permission to do so. On the awards evening videos can be shown using a full-HD (1080p) video projector.

Entries should be submitted to Andy Waddington via email or on a CD, DVD, memory stick or external hard disc by midnight 6th October 2013. Media will be returned by default if reusable or by request otherwise. Please send us the URL of  your hosted video (for the website), as well as a high quality version for projection - four minutes of 720p video will just about fit on a CD-R. The photographs will be loaded onto, and videos linked from, the Club's website by 13th October 2012.

The winners will be decided by the rating system available to registered website users. Each member will be permitted to rate each entry (from 1 to 5 stars) during the period 14th October to 12th November, similar to previous contests.

An awards evening will be held at the Clubhouse on the evening of Friday 15th November 2013 when all the photographs and videos will be projected, the winners announced, and prizes awarded. This will be a social evening probably also including other slide shows or videos.

My thanks to James for having established the competition format and organised the first two contests.

Andy Waddington and James Gravenor