9th Masters of Print Open for Entries
Click the image for further information….
51st Smethwick International
The 51st Smethwick International is now open for entries. Closing date is 27th October 2025.
On-line entry System here. Rules here.
Three Print Sections: Open Colour, Open Monochrome and Nature. Prints can be forwarded to Southampton. Three PDI Sections: Open Colour, Open Monochrome and Nature.
200 Medals and Ribbons to be won. Patronage: FIAP 2025-463, GPU L250105, PAGB 2026-008.
4th EPS Digital Salon Open for Entries
The 4th Edinburgh Photographic Society Digital Salon is now open for entries.
It has patronage from FIAP, PSA and GPU. There are four sections (open mono, open colour, nature general and people) and 77 awards. The salon is presented by Edinburgh Photographic Society in Scotland, the home of one of the oldest (1861) and longest running photographic print exhibitions: “The Edinburgh International”.
Entry closes at midnight on 9th November 2025. Click the image below for more information on how to enter.
PAGB Online Advisory Workshop
Would you like to participate in an Online Workshop with your PDI and Prints being assessed and discussed by a group of PAGB Adjudicators?
We already have lots of interest and hope to run this through September. You will need to upload your image files to our Central Management System (CMS) and post prints to us, probably by the end of August. Watch for a more detailed timetable soon.
Although we haven’t yet fixed dates but you would like us to look at your work, please provide your name, e-mail and answers to the following questions. Please e-mail to awards@thepagb.org.uk as soon as you can so that we can properly plan the events.
If you are registered with us, you will be contacted by e-mail with the details as soon as they are fixed and you will be given priority if there are more applications than we can handle immediately.
- What level are you interested in? (BPAGB CPAGB DPAGB EPAGB or MPAGB).
- Do you hope to apply for Adjudication in 2025 or 2026?
- If you are intending to apply soon, do you want a full potential entry reviewed or do you want to submit just a few images to determine which level you might be capable of?
- Will you wish to be advised on a potential PDI or a Print entry?
- Are you prepared to pay £10 to be advised or £5 to observe?
Please note that this does not affect our Online Mentoring Service and the PAGB Awards team will continue to support Federation Workshops when they are invited.
26th International RPS AV Festival
Click below for how to enter the RPS 26th International AV Festival.
PAGB Awards for Photographic Merit
The next adjudication is scheduled for the weekend of 22/23 November 2025 in Kingston on Thames. Lack of support has made cancellation a distinct possibility. Update – This has now been cancelled.
Should you be thinking of seeking one of the PAGB’s distinctions, (Badge, Credit, Distinction, Excellence or Master), please contact me to discuss your options. Please do so quickly as the PAGB has to pay a 20% deposit for the venue, imminently, and that will be the point at which the decision to cancel will need to be taken.
Peter Young HonPAGB – WPF Awards Officer – pagbapm@thewpf.co.uk
Recent PSA Salon Successes
Here is the list of people whom have had continued successes in PSA Salons from April 2025 to the end of June 2025.
- Paul James – Gold Medal x2 / Bronze medal x1 / Merit x2 / Judges Choice x4 Diploma x2 HM’s x7 Plus an impressive silver medal for the Architecture theme competition 2025 season.
- Kev Robertson – Jury Choice x3 / Merit x1 / Ribbon x1
- Rhodri Phillips – Silver medal x1 / Bronze Medal x1 / Diploma x1 / Jury choice x1
- Sian Davies – Ribbon x1 / Jury Choice x1 / HM’s x2
- Ian Ledgard – Gold Medal x2 / Circuit Gold x1 / Medal x1 / Diploma x1 / Merits x4 / HM’s x4
- Gary Shinner – Judges Choice x1 / Merit x1
- Tony Grubb – HM x1. But also PSA Monochrome Print of the year from 2024, judged in the last few weeks (July 2025) * A special article about Tony’s successful image appears below and will be in Newsflash very soon.
Congratulations to all members listed above, who reported back to me with their recent awards, medals and other successes in the PSA affiliated salons. If there are any other members of the PSA have some successes please e-mail me directly at gary_shinnerlrps@sky.com (note the underscore).
Anyone out there wants to find out any more about the PSA, please again contact me, I’ll do my best to help you. However you can go to their website.
Good luck to everyone with their photographic journeys.
Gary Shinner MPSA2 BPSA
PSA CMD for Wales
PSA Story of an Image – ‘The Tree’
The Tree, Llyn Padarn 11/01/2022 09:45 – Tony Grubb CPAGB BPE2* AFIAP PPSA GPU CR1*
I have been a photographer (sort of) since the late 1960s but they were really only happy snaps taken with a point and shoot. I got my first Proper camera in the late 1970s, a Zenit something and because it was manual I actually started to learn something. I bought my first Canon in the early 1980s and have never used another make since. My first Canon was an AE1 and my last film camera was an A1, in my honest opinion, the best amateur film camera ever made (still got a couple).
See the rest of Tony’s story and the image itself by clicking the ‘continue reading’ link below…
Judging Advice from the PAGB
PAGB E-News are hoping to produce an e-news special, drawing on the advice and training that Federations offer their judges so that the best ideas can be shared by everyone.
As an example, they have provided this small extract from material from the comprehensive documentation used at judging workshops in the Northern Counties. We decided to share it and we hope you find it interesting.
General Advice
Don’t focus on what’s wrong with a picture.
Analyse – don’t criticise, suggest changes but never dictate.
Don’t merely describe to the audience what the picture contains. They can already see that it’s a tree with a sky and mountains or whatever. It is much better to evaluate on the basis of –
1. Communication of an idea/feeling 50 – 60% of the value.
2. Content 30 – 35% of the value.
3. Construction (technical) 10 – 15% of the value.
1. Communiation
Statement/story, interpretation. Appreciation of all art should not, primarily, be an intellectual exercise but rather an emotional one. It is the buzz or tingle we experience on seeing a good photograph which should be at the heart of judging.
A good photographer brings out the best of what he/she photographs, as a musician interprets a composer’s work. Even the ambiguity of a picture can be its greatest asset in that it provides a canvas on which the observer can place their own imagination and feelings.
2. Content
Lighting, background, sharpness, colour, timing, movement. composition, pattern/texture, format – portrait, landscape, letter box, square etc.
3. Construction (technical)
Handling of tonal range and colour rendition. Exposure, sharpness, printing quality, choice of paper, appropriateness of colour or monochrome, use of a technique to improve the picture rather than to purely demonstrate knowledge of it. Finally does the presentation add to or detract from the quality of the picture.
We look forward to seeing the E-News Special that covers the subject in more detail. If you wish to subscribe to PAGB E-News you can do so here.