Distinctions Update

News about AV from Leo 8 Feb

Greetings to you all.

You may be aware that the review of the Awards in AV has now been completed and accepted by the Executive. Subject to confirmation the venue is available, and booked, the 2012 Awards for AV will be held at Braunstone on 20th October. This will be firmed up as quickly as we can.

As a result Peter Brown and I are working on the information leaflet and new application form which I am hoping will be ready very shortly.

However, please note that I am going to be away from 19th February until the 16th March. When you receive the new literature please inform any enquirer that they should not email me (as they will not receive a reply) and not to telephone my home as my wife will not be best pleased and it will not make them better placed than applying via the normal channels.

I am making arrangements, for both the Applications in AV and for the “normal” Awards to be recorded in date order upon receipt so that there will be no queue jumping.

This will be the third year running that we will be holding an AV Awards and is an indication of the rising popularity of this genre.

Thanks for your co-operation.

Leo

News from Leo 18 Jan

Awards – January Update

Please accept my apologies for the delay in the issue of this update. Just when I thought I had things sorted something else came along which I wished to include.

November 2011 Adjudication – Llanberis

All Entrants have received their results and the inevitable queries from some of those who were not successful have been answered. I can confirm that Certificates for all those who passed were despatched to Federation Secretaries (or those nominated to receive on their behalf) on the 2^nd January -yes my Post Office was open on the Bank Holiday- so any going astray and needing replacement will attract the “duplicate charge”

April 2012 Adjudication – Pontefract

I eventually closed the books on this event in mid December and Entry Packs were sent out, by email, over the 14/15^th January. A number have already acknowledged receipt and we have only had one person, so far, who has been unable to correctly print off the details. I have sent him another pack and, if these do not print, will post him copies. It is too early to say how successful this mailing has been but most seem to find everything worked satisfactorily.

November 2012 – Northern Ireland

I had to open the list for this event immediately after closing Pontefract as applications were arriving.

I thought that support for this event might be a little slow as normally around 50%+ of entrants like to attend and the extra cost of a trip to Northern Ireland might put them off. How wrong can I be – at least for the Credit level? I have already processed 34 applications which means Credit day is already 45% full!

I do not anticipate we will run a Master Section at this event in view of the large entry at this level at Pontefract.

The Distinction day, just like Pontefract, is painfully slow in filling with only three entries to date.

I will keep you posted on how things develop.

News from Leo 8 Dec

Adjudication 26/27^th November 2011 – Llanberis

Please accept my apologies for the slight delay in the issue of the results of the latest Adjudication. Many of you will have picked up the information from the latest E-news letter from Rod anyway but this is to ensure that all the addressees have this information, if they do not subscribe (shame on you!) I have included Federation Secretaries in this as they will need to retain the list for reference..

I can confirm, despite a delayed return from North Wales, all entrants were personally advised of their results by email before the close of play on Friday 2^nd December and all badges have been dispatched to those who were not in attendance.

I will be preparing the Certificates in the next week or so, which will require signature by the President and will then be released to the Federation Secretaries (or other nominated recipient). You may need the list to identify which club etc. May I remind Fed. Secs. it is in your interest to keep a note of what happens to the Certificates, especially if you are not going to present them at a Federation event as any duplicates will attract a charge of £9.00. If you have a note of it being sent to the Club and they have lost it you may be able to recoup this from them!

This was the first Adjudication where the Entry Information packs and results have all (well nearly all) have been issued by email. I will be preparing a report for the PAGB Executive meeting in February outlining the way the new system coped.

April 2012 Adjudication Pontefract

At the time of writing I still have a few spaces available at Distinction level. From the number of enquiries recently I anticipated we would have closed by now but some have not materialised. As mentioned before this is an Adjudication not to miss with some “class acts” having a crack at achieving the heady heights of MPAGB.

November 2012 Adjudication Northern Ireland

Once I have cleared the Certificates etc I will be opening the books for this event and already have a number of Credit applications pending.

Workshops

Both at Llanberis, and since my return, I have received a number of enquiries about workshops for intending applicants. Some Federations are very pro-active in this respect and ensure that they plan a workshop a couple of years before they are due to host. In the interim it might pay Federations to advise clubs that the Awards Team will be making available a CD of successful images in the near future so that prospective candidates can see the standard of the “passing range” at both Credit and Distinction level.

Keep your eyes open for a bulletin advising when this CD will be available from the Recorded Lecture Service.

Have a relaxing Christmas and action packed 2012.

Leo

News from Rod Whelan DEC 2011

I hope to finish in December a CD for the Recorded Lecture Service showing a large range of images in the passing range for CPAGB and DPAGB.
These will be incorporated into a PTE show to make it more difficult for anyone to copy them and use them illegaly.
Following suggestions from the SPA and L&CPU I can offer the APM images to Federations as plain images without music which you can use for Awards Workshops, etc., with the ability to pick the ones you want and “freeze” them to discuss their merits.
You are expected, of course, to treat these with respect, not allowing others to copy them and most certainly not making them available to clubs or individuals. They should only be used at Federation events or, securely, by appointed mentors. Who might be interested?
On a different subject the e-news articles about “lesser known” photographers have proved popular but few of you have taken up the invitation to nominate a couple. Would you like to do that or should I just appeal directly through e-news?

Tony Riley at SPA has reminded me that we discussed the possibility of loaning print sets for APM workshops in Federations. I am very happy to arrange this. At your expense (carrier) of course and we may need to fit around Adjudications.

I didn’t explain this offer very well previously which has led to a couple of requests I cannot meet. What I am offering, following a request from Tony Riley, is a box (or 2/3 boxes) of prints in the passing range, for C, D & M as required, available on request.
I don’t have any complete panels of prints, only a single print from each passing entrant. I am also not proposing to issue these on a “permanent” basis as they form the PAGB APM Archive and also because they need to be updated and refreshed regularly. I would suggest that Federations, for mentoring and workshops, should also seek to obtain complete panels of work from local successful, and even unsuccessful, applicants but again you should refresh these every year.
(I can seldom bring them to London as I fly or come by train but I come by car to all the other events – Print & PDI Championships, APM, etc. I can also ship them at Federation expense.)

ROD