PAGB Inter Club Print Championship 2025

On Saturday 18th October, the PAGB Inter Club Print Championship 2025 was held at Blackburn. This was the third time in three years that Colchester had qualified for this event and our available image bank had been depleted after the previous two years. Nevertheless, we had a strong set of 12 images for the ‘qualifying round’ and had some hopes that we would finish in the top 8 and qualify for the final.

We had some high marks in the qualifying round, scoring 158 out of 12 prints, an average of 13.16 and usually enough to get into the final round. Unfortunately the scores were incredibly high on the day and after the first round we were in 11th place out of 36 clubs, narrowly missing out on a top 8 spot.

A feature of the day was the large number of 15s given. In fact, it seemed at one point that anything that had a sporting context was almost certain to get 14 or 15. These shots were good, but sophisticated modern cameras make them easier to get than you would think. Textured backgrounds was another theme which was well received by the judges and increasingly as we got deeper into the competition, the old f4 style of portrait with a person photographed with their surroundings/interesting background, regularly scored highly. We did have some of these, but sadly no sport, which inhibited our chances.

In the plate competition we finished 3 points behind the winners. The rules are such that you have to find a number of new images, previously not entered in round 1. Our first two new images did very well but a couple did not and disappointingly two of our high scoring prints from round 1 unexpectedly scored lower marks when they were judged again, which cost us a higher placed finish.

Congratulations to the following authors whose prints achieved 14 or more:

• Chris Aldred - Territorial Dispute (15)
• Roy Essery - Julio Napolis and Friend (14)
• Colin Westgate - Stokksnes, Iceland (14)
• Derek Howes - Red Fox (14)
• Marney Macdonald - Golden Eagle (14)
• Andrew Bailey - Herringfleet Mill (14)
• Kate Jackson - Storm Jorge Lightshow (14)

I would like to thank all of the club photographers for helping me by supplying me with prints and in some cases, printing images especially. My apologies if, on this occasion, I I was unable to use your print. Only 17 of the bank of 50 prints were used and so it is not possible to use all prints. On the day you get a feel for what is doing well and this largely dictates the sort of image you try in the next round.

This was our third successive year competing at the highest level of club print photography and naturally now, our resources are a little depleted. I encourage all members to strive for good new images over the next couple of months - and to keep me posted as new images become available. We will want to put in a strong entry to the EAF print championships on the 15th March 2026, our route to hopefully qualifying once again for a place in these prestigious print championships.

Results

Qualifying Round

The Plate

– Andrew Bailey (External Competition Secretary)

PAGB Final Results