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Focus Bulacan 2015 Competition

1/13/2015

The new year signals a fresh start to our competition. Scores are back to zero, everyone having the same starting point. As we kick off another year-long series of contests and challenges, we hereby introduce what's new in our competition for 2015.

PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2015

Our Photographer Of The Year competition is not really new, as we held it last year (2014), but we have updated it, including tweaking the scoring system for some activities. Here are the details for this year's POTY :

POTY Mechanics:

The competition runs from January until December of 2015.
POTY is points-based, with members accumulating points based on their activity and performance in contests.
All points will be tracked and recorded. The Focus member who has the most points at the end of 2015 will be recognized as Photographer Of The Year.
The points and records will not be made available to the public but members will be updated individually - upon request - every quarter how many points they have accumulated and what is their current ranking. They will not be given access to other members' stats or standings.
Only official Focus Bulacan members will be allowed to participate in POTY. Focus applicants MAY join our contests, but they will not accumulate points to be included in the POTY competition. However, once they become official members, their points in previous contests will then be carried over to the POTY scoring.
Focus Bulacan officers are allowed to join the contest, EXCEPT the competition committee officer, as standard procedure for our photocontests.
Final details of prize options will be announced in the last quarter of 2015.

Points/Scoring System - Ways how to accumulate points for POTY competition :

For every submission of entry to a Focus photocontest : 3 points
Bonus points for placing in the Top 5 of photocontests (except FPP / Scott Kelby / Team Contests) :

        + 10 points - 1st Place
        + 7 points - 2nd Place
        + 5 points - 3rd Place
        + 3 points - 4th Place
        + 2 points - 5th Place
        (No additional points for 6th place onwards)

Scoring for Focus Portrait Project :

             Submission of entry : 7 points
             + 15 points : 1st Place
             + 10 points : 2nd Place
             + 7 points : 3rd Place
             + 5 points : 4th Place
             + 3 points : 5th Place

Scoring for Scott Kelby Photowalk contest :

             Submission of entry : 3 points
             + 20 points : 1st Place
             + 14 points : 2nd Place
             + 10 points : 3rd Place
             + 6 points : 4th Place
             + 4 points : 5th Place
           Bonus points :
             + 10 points : if included in Honorable Mentions list
             + 20 points : if included in Finalists list
             + 30 points : if Grand Prize winner

Scoring for Team Competition

             Submission of team entry/participation : 3 points
             + 15 points : 1st Place
             + 10 points : 2nd Place
             + 7 points : 3rd Place
             + 5 points : 4th Place
             + 3 points : 5th Place

Placing in the Top 5 in a reputable contest (other club, organization, publication, or online site) : 5 points

(Contests based on the number of Facebook likes or similar mechanics will NOT be considered reputable.)

Participation in Focus Bulacan's PP Nights / Inspirational Talk Activities (sharing of photography knowledge) : 3 points
Sharing knowledge / being resource speaker in Focus Bulacan seminars or workshops : 10 points
Having photo chosen for Focus Bulacan monthly calendar : 5 points
Official representation of Focus Bulacan in covering a sponsored event : 5 points
Participation in featured online activities/posts : 3 points
Note : Our photocontests will consist of monthly PhotoMeet contests, monthly theme contests, and special contests (shooting challenges, projects, etc.)

Special Case
Focus Bulacan has overseas-based members. Obviously they will not be able to attend PhotoMeets and accumulate points for contests based on those. To give them consideration and a chance to somehow compensate for their situation, they will be given special points for the following:

Attendance in a photowalk/photoshoot in their location, limited to once a month and must be proven by photos and EXIF data : 3 points
Sharing a photo series/album, photographed at the same month as the time it was shared on Focus Insider (a Facebook page exclusive for Focus official members) : 3 points

TEAM COMPETITION

We will be having team activities and competition every quarter. Participants will have to work in teams in shooting a theme or specified activity, and battle other teams in producing the best output. Team designation will always be random, as an element of surprise and to give members an opportunity to work with a bigger number of co-members (as compared to having the same set of team members). Team Competition activities lined up for 2015 are the following :
1st Quarter - February : Prenup Shootout
2nd Quarter - May : Band Shoot
3rd Quarter - August : Glamour Shoot
4th Quarter - December deadline : Focus Portrait Project

As always, we will put the entries to a vote.

VERSUS TOURNAMENT

The VERSUS tournament is a head-to-head competition, pitting Focus members against one another in an ultimate challenge. The objective is simple : produce a better photo than your counterpart, advance to the next round, and keep on winning until the end.

The tournament will have 64 participants - all Focus official members. The members are ranked 1st to 64th with the Photographer Of The Year 2014 scoring as basis. The top seed (1st) will battle the lowest seed (64th), the 2nd seed will battle the 63rd seed, so on and so forth, until the 32nd seed versus the 33rd. For the brackets and seedings, please check : http://challonge.com/focusversus

Each round will be an elimination - meaning for each matchup, there will be a winner (who will advance to the next round), and a loser (who will be eliminated from the competition). So for the 1st round, there will be 32 matchups, and 32 winners who will advance to the 2nd round. Until we reach a final two to determine the ultimate winner.

What will the participants shoot? They will be given a photography genre as theme, but with a twist. These themes will be announced at the start of every round. Each participant will be given two (2) months to produce an output/entry. In effect, each round will last two months.

1st Round : (64 participants) - 32 matchups [January-March]
2nd Round : (32 participants) - 16 matchups [March-May]
3rd Round : (16 participants) - 8 matchups [May-July]
Quarterfinals : (8 participants) - 4 matchups [July-September]
Semifinals : (4 participants) - 2 matchups [September-November]
Finals : (2 participants) - 1 matchup [November-December]

Who will pick the winners? VERSUS entries will not be voted on publicly. Instead, matchup winners will be determined by the number of votes that entries receive from a panel of judges. We will have a set of three (3) mainstay judges who will select winners from the 1st round until the Finals, and two (2) guest judges for each round. For every round, there will be a total of five (5) judges who will select which entries are better in each bracket/matchup.

Other conditions :
- If no entry, opponent wins by default and advances
- Entries cannot be taken from Focus Bulacan PhotoMeets/activities/other contests
- Entries should be taken at duration of the theme/round (old photos not allowed)
- Keep RAW or unprocessed JPEG files for verification (if necessary). Entries that cannot be authenticated via EXIF data shall be disqualified, no questions asked.

The VERSUS tournament will award points that count toward the Photographer Of The Year competition. (Let's be clear : winning the VERSUS challenge does not make you Photographer Of The Year, but your chances will improve tremendously.) The points you get will depend on the round you reach :
1st Round : 3 points
2nd Round : 7 points
3rd Round : 12 points
Quarterfinals : 18 points
Semifinals : 24 points
Finals : 30 points
Champion : 40 points

The champion shall also get a trophy and a photography item (to be announced during the semifinals).

Are you ready? First round theme to be announced soon! Good luck to all the participants.

With all these contests, we are sure our members are in for a fun-filled 2015. Let's all keep shooting and challenging ourselves to get better.

(Or we could take the easy route : shoot the same-old, same-old photos, admire our own work, and believe that we are improving even though we are not doing anything new. Like the famous quote, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." )

We'd rather challenge each other.

FOCUS COMPETITION

January 2015 PhotoMeet Contest : Bulacan Festivals

January 2015 Theme Contest : WIDE ANGLE

Focus Bulacan 2015 Competition

Competition is fun

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