Blog 254

British Photographic Exhibitions (BPE)

Members of Photographic Clubs may wish to enter a selection of their images into these national exhibitions, to gain the distinctions awarded by this organisation.

This is a statement from British Photographic Exhibitions (BPE):

"The BPE exists to encourage photographers to enter exhibitions and to recognise successful entrants via the issue of the Crown Awards photographic distinctions. Exhibition members share ideas, promote each other's exhibitions and generally work together to promote competitive photography."

The BPE website can be reached by clicking here.

For those starting from scratch the system is as follows:

You can enter any of the BPE member exhibitions listed on the BPE web site. Click here for the complete list. Many of the exhibitions now are accepting online entries which makes it much easier, some still require you to create a compact disc (CD) of your entry

With each image that you have accepted, in an exhibition, you accrue one point. Other awards are made and generally consist of gold, silver medals and ribbons.

When you have accrued 25 points you can apply to the BPE Awards Officers (Alison and Andy Fryer via the web contact form: http://www.britishphotographicexhibitions.org.uk/index.php/contact for an application form for the One Crown Award.

They will send you an application form to fill in listing the year, exhibition, section and numbers of acceptances. Then the address to send your completed application to is BPE Crown Awards Officers, 38 Oldacre Lane, Brocton, Stafford, ST17 0TW.

Following their verification of the form you will be sent your Certificate and Ribbon and be entitled to use “BPE1*” after your name.

You can continue this process until you reach “BPE5*” for which you will have to have gained 300 points. You are then eligible to start working towards the ABPE (Associate) then FBPE (Fellow), which require specified numbers of awards as well as acceptances.

There is no charge for any of these services, except for the individual exhibition entry fees payable to BPE club exhibitions which you wish to enter.

The BPE currently consists of 22 members exhibitions. These are typically organised by either a single photographic club or by a number of clubs in the same geographical area. Currently (2016) these consist of the following (in alphabetical order):

• Alba Photographic Group
• Basingstoke Camera Club Exhibition
• Bebington Salon of Photography
• Beyond Group
• Clay Cross National Projected Image Exhibition
• Cotswold (Monochrome)
• Dingwall National Projected Image Exhibition
• Frome Wessex Salon of Photography
• Great Barr Open Exhibition
• Great Barr PS Panels Exhibition
• Guernsey Salon of Photography
• Neath & District PS Salon
• Robin Hood Open Digital Exhibition
• Rushden Open Photography Exhibition
• Shrewsbury Open Photography Exhibition
• Solihull Open Exhibition of British Photography
• South Birmingham Open Digital Exhibition
• Southport National Open Exhibition of Photography
• SRGB Photo Group - Print Celebration
• Vale of Evesham National Photographic Exhibition
• Winchester National Exhibition
• Yardley Photographic Society Exhibition

Each exhibition will have its own photographic classes e.g. Natural Colour, Photorealistic Colour, Creative Nature, Monochrome and Landscape etc., some exhibitions will have the same categories, however they do vary from exhibition to exhibition. Read the entry class conditions carefully. Ensure that the images are correctly sized and are saved in the correct colour space and pixel size that the organizers require.

Just to reiterate check the rules and definitions for each exhibitions as they are all different.

When entries are carried out online, entry fees are usually calculated automatically and payment is usually made through the PayPal organisation.

Here is a complete list of the BPE awards:

• BPE1 Crown Award - 25 points
• BPE2 Crown Award - 50 points 
• BPE3 Crown Award - 100 points 
• BPE4 Crown Award - 200 points 
• BPE5 Crown Award - 300 points

This information is correct at the time of writing this document, please check the BPE site as new exhibitions are added regularly, some are removed and other details may change from time to time.

One of the most important aspects of entering the BPEs is good record keeping. Many Club members who are entering these exhibitions keep their entries and results on a spreadsheet. Accompanying this document is an example spreadsheet which will illustrate how they can be used to enter details of the exhibition entered, the timings of the event e.g. the closing date, the selection date, results publishing date and the awards ceremony. The spreadsheet will also include the images entered in the individual classes and a record of the scores of each individual image and whether it was accepted and also whether it was awarded a medal, a BPE ribbon, a Certificate of Merit or whether it was commended. The spreadsheet will also include a running total of the points accrued from each exhibition. As will be noted from the example spreadsheet the total exceeds 25 so an application can be made for the BPE1* award.

It is worth noting that as long as the image/s fulfill the criteria of one exhibition there is no reason why the same image/s cannot be entered into another exhibition as long as they meet the criteria of that exhibition.

Those who achieve the top crown award rating BPE5* are then invited to aggregate acceptances and awards in the member exhibitions and upon reaching the accepted aggregate to apply, without charge, for Associateship ABPE and Fellowship FBPE. The successful applicant will receive a Certificate and Medal and will be able to use the letters acknowledging their award after their name.

ABPE and FBPE

From 1997 British Photographic Exhibitions has been offering its premier awards to be known as Associateship of British Photographic Exhibitions, ABPE, and Fellowship of British Photographic Exhibitions, FBPE..  These awards are designed to indicate consistent achievement of the highest standard over a substantial period of time and will be available only to those who have already achieved the BPE 5* award.   Each person achieving the BPE5* award will automatically receive personalised record forms to enable them to maintain the records necessary for Associateship and each person gaining this award will receive similar forms to enable them to maintain the records for Fellowship.

The new awards will require not only the continued ability to gain acceptances in the affiliated exhibitions but also the ability to gain awards in these exhibitions.

Details of the requirements for successful application for these awards are as follows:

Associateship of British Photographic Exhibitions (ABPE).

Those who already hold a BPE5* award may apply for an Associateship when they have achieved the following since gaining the BPE5*:

A further 100 acceptances in member exhibitions.

and

Twenty awards using at least ten different pieces of work.

An award includes any recognition beyond an acceptance such as a commendation, a ribbon or a medal.   A photograph used in both print and projected sections in member exhibitions will not be counted as different pieces of work in applying this requirement.

It will be required that applicants for ABPE application will supply a printed thumbnail, with titles, of the awarded images.

Fellowship of British Photographic Exhibitions (FBPE)

Those who already hold an ABPE may apply for a Fellowship when they have achieved the following since gaining the Associateship

A further 100 acceptances in member exhibitions

and

Thirty awards since gaining the ABPE using at least fifteen different pieces of work which have not been previously awarded

An award includes any recognition beyond an acceptance such as a commendation, a ribbon or a medal.   A photograph used in both print and projected sections in member exhibitions will not be counted as different pieces of work in applying this requirement.

It will be required that applicants for FBPE application will supply a printed thumbnail, with titles, of the awarded images.

No fee will be charged to those applying for these awards.   A certificate and medal will be awarded to each applicant achieving these awards and recipients will be able to use the letters ABPE or FBPE after their names.   The awards are intended to represent the highest achievement in exhibition photography and no further qualifications are planned by BPE.

All applications must be made to the BPE Crown Award Officer whose decision will be final.

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The awards officers are Alison & Andy Fryer. Either write to them at the address below, or click on this option: http://www.britishphotographicexhibitions.org.uk/index.php/contact to send them an email message via a contact form.

BPE Crown Awards Officers,

38 Oldacre Lane,

Brocton,

Stafford,

ST17 0TW