The Phoenix competition is a second chance for images that were entered in any of the year’s regular competitions and did not place 1st, 2nd or 3rd.

After the last regular competition of the year,  a new “upload” is opened,  in which members may select up to 3 non-placing images (i.e. images that do not qualify for print or digital Image of the Year) from those they entered in regular competitions during the year. There is no need to upload any digital image again. Eligible prints ( only the actual print that was judged in one of the print competitions; no replacements ) must be re-submitted to the competitions committee.

The Phoenix competition is intended to be a “fun” end-of-the-year competition. We all feel a bit of “pain” when the judges just don’t seem to score our image right. Well, this is intended to be one last “kick at the can” to give some bragging rights to the winner. There is only one winner selected from all the eligible images. The judging process is simplified, by a first round of judging that identifies images that all three judges agree are worth scoring. The short-list is then scored to identify the winner. The scores are only used to identify the trophy winner. The original scores for all images remain as they were for the original competition.