Paignton Photographic Club

There are 15 National BPE Exhibitions that take place throughout the year, for Prints, Slides, Digital Projection or a combination of these. Each exhibition is run on the same basic guidelines (with a few exceptions). You can enter up to 4 images in a section, eg. 4 colour prints, 4 slides, 4 nature prints etc. there is an entry fee for each section.

All work entered in an exhibition will go up in front of a panel of 3 judges who, by using an electronic scoring system, will score from 2 to 5 without consulting with each other, they will be scoring on the premise of:

2 = in the judges opinion the image should not be in the exhibition
3 = the judge is undecided
4 = the image should be in the exhibition
5 = the image should be in the exhibition and be considered for an award

All 3 scores are added together to give a total score for each image, the exhibition organisers will set a acceptance level based on size of entry and judges scoring standard. Usually this is a score of 11 or 12. Any piece of work with the acceptance score or more will be in the exhibition, and the judges will pick the awards from the higher scoring images, at this stage they will be able to consult with each other.

Gaining BPE Distinctions

For every acceptance in a BPE Exhibition you gain a crown award, when you have collected 25 Crown awards you can apply free of charge for a Crown rating award. Each successful applicant will receive a Certificate and a Ribbon and will be able to use the letters BPE1* after their name. If you gain a further 25 Crown awards (50 in total) you can apply for your BPE2* and so on, see table below, You can enter the same work in each BPE Exhibition but once accepted in an exhibition it cannot be used for that exhibition again. Unaccepted work can be entered in the following years, if you think with a new set of judges it might be more successful. There is no time limit in gaining awards:

BPE1*...……………25 Crown awards
BPE2*……………...50 Crown awards
BPE3*……………..100 Crown awards
BPE4*…………..…200 Crown awards
BPE5*…………..…300 Crown awards

A copy of the regulations for BPE Crown Awards may be obtained from (SAE please): Cliff Thompson Hon.FRPS EFIAP FBPE, BPE Crown Awards Officer, Kintra, 79 Belfry Drive, Wollaston, Stourbridge, DY8 3SE

The current member exhibitions of the BPE are as follows:
Bebington Salon of Photography [S (2), DP (2)]
Beyond Group Open Exhibition [DP (3)]
Bromsgrove Open Exhibition of Photography [P (3), DP (3)]
Cotswold Salon (Monochrome) [P(4) (DP2)]
Dingwall National Projected Image Exhibition [S (2), DP (2)]
GDPU Digital Exhibition [DP (3)]
Great Barr Open Exhibition [S (2), P (3), DP (1)]
Guernsey Salon of Photography [DP (4)]
Havant National Open Exhibition [P (3), DP (3)]
Rushden Open Photographic Exhibition [DP (4)]
Shrewsbury Open Photography Exhibition [S (2), DP (1)]
Solihull Open Exhibition of British Photography [S (2), DP (2), P (3)]]
Southport Open Exhibition of Photography [S (2), P (3), DP (1)]
Vale of Evesham National Photographic Exhibition [DP (4)]
Wirral Slide Exhibition [S (2)]

Key: S = slides, P = prints, DP = digital projection
Numbers ( ) indicate number of sections. See entry forms for section details.

To obtain a copy of Entry Forms of all BPE exhibitions for one year please forward four 9in. x 6in. stamped addressed envelopes to: Mrs. Marion Thompson FRPS EFIAP ABPE, Exhibition Coordinator, British Photographic Exhibitions,
Kintra, 79 Belfry Drive, Wollaston, Stourbridge, DY8 3SE