I decided to to set up this competition after my wedding to Renata in Poland back in July 2007. We noticed and talked about, within family and friend's circle, that my brother Nigel had all the top photographic equipment but was not sure how to use it. I thought I would push him to a much higher level in photography, photo composition and teach him a few things by challenging him to this monthly competition. It is judged by an independent and impartial person to give a completely true result each month and also put to the public vote to have their say. I hope you enjoy the photo's.
The first and probably the most important and critical aspect of judging the entries is whether they fulfil the competition brief. This is already decided by the competitors in this case, so the judge is working to YOUR requirements.
An example you might like to consider: The title could be "Birds" and a dictionary definition would be included saying that they are two legged, winged and feathered members of the animal kingdom. In an extreme case one competitor could take a very ordinary photograph of chickens (badly composed etc etc) and the other a really beautiful "arty" shot of Marilyn Monroe Look-a-likes.
Both would fit the bill as commonplace examples of Birds as used colloquially but one fails spectacularly to fit the brief.
Having established that they both fit the criteria then other decisions need to be made. This is more subjective and questions how well the brief has been fulfilled.
To go back to the previous example, a shot of a flock of starlings fits the description better (ie Birds plural as in the brief) than a close-up of the feathers of an owl.
It is only after this that composition, focus, use of light etc can be brought in.
To sum up, the competition brief needs to be looked at very carefully either when writing it or when interpreting it and this applies to all competitions no matter what the medium.