Delaware Photographic Society
Standards for Classification & Promotion

Approved: August 7, 2020

The Delaware Photographic Society (DPS) holds competitions to encourage club members to show and improve their photographic work. There are competitions for projected images and prints. In order that members compete with others of similar abilities, images are submitted in three competition categories. Class B is for members who are new to competitions or are less proficient in preparing images. Class A is for members who are more experienced and more proficient. Salon Class is for members who have demonstrated high skill in image making. The following Standards have been established for assignment to each class. 

New members will enter competition in class “B”, but may petition the Standards Committee to enter a higher Class. New members wishing to enter in  “A”  Class or Salon Class may submit a portfolio with 10 or more images. This is normally done prior to the first month of the competition year. However, if a member is assigned to class "B" after joining mid-season,  they may petition the Standards Committee to be reclassified for the next season if they show exceptional results in competition for review prior to the next season’s competition. The Membership Coordinator and Standards Committee may consult and recommend a new member placement into Class A or Salon Class. In this case there will be a very high standard for placing a new member into Salon Class. 

A portfolio for review can be provided as a gallery on the DPS website or if the member already has an external gallery, that gallery can be referenced.

Two or more members of the Standards Committee must agree with the proposed placement. If two active members are not in agreement, a third member would make the decision. If no third member is available, any past committee member can be recruited. 

Promotion will be based on two factors: 

The person(s) that achieves the highest raw total point in any of the categories in his or her class will automatically be promoted to the next class, after 1 full year of competition. However, that person must have competed in both categories. That is, if a member competes in Open category they must enter at least 50% of the Assigned category to be eligible for promotion. 

The other criteria will be having the best record in competition based on “average” scoring. 

A petitioning member would have submitted at least 70% of the total images allowed for the year, in the category being considered. He or she would also need to have submitted at least 50% in the alternate category. The alternate category is Open or Assigned depending on the category in which he or she has been evaluated. The Standards Committee will also promote any member that is within 3 points of the high score in their class. 

Promotion from “B” to “A” is considered a promotion in both Projected Image & Print. Promotion from “A” to Salon is specific to Print or Projected Image.

Any member can request to be reclassified to a lower class if they feel they are competing in too high a class. This would be based on competition results and must be approved by the Standards Committee. 

Class B members are encouraged to petition for advancement to Class A when they have earned 500 or more points in competition. Points must have been earned in both Open and Assigned topics.

All re-classifications approved by the Standards Committee will be submitted to the DPS Board of Directors for Approval.

DPS Standards Committee

Bill Guenthner
Pat Bushey
Gary Bryde