BY-LAWS of the Photography Club of Greater Cincinnati
Revised February, 2024
ARTICLE 1: NAME
The name of the organization shall be the Photography Club of Greater Cincinnati (PCGC).
ARTICLE II: PURPOSE
The aim of this club shall be to promote the interests and activities of photographers for pleasure, education, and recreation.
ARTICLE III: MEMBERSHIP
SECTION 1: Any person of good character with an expressed interest in photography may join this Club. Membership may be denied or revoked for good cause by a majority vote of the Board of Directors. If such action is taken, annual dues paid shall be returned, pro-rata.
SECTION 2: The Board of Directors may award honorary memberships for outstanding services to the Club. Such memberships shall be for a period determined by the Board and may be renewed at the discretion of the Board at any time. Such members shall have the same rights and privileges as all other members.
SECTION 3: The club does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations.
ARTICLE IV: MEETINGS
SECTION 1: Regular meetings of the Club shall be held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month unless otherwise announced and agreed upon by a majority of the Club.
SECTION 2: Special meetings may be called by the President at any time.
SECTION 3: One meeting each month shall be reserved for print competition and one for digital competition, with the exceptions of November and December when both competitions shall be held during the first monthly meeting. If extenuating circumstances make it impossible to meet in person, competitions will be conducted digitally on the PCGC website.
ARTICLE V: DUES AND FINANCES
SECTION 1: The annual dues for this Club shall be established by the Board of Directors and approved by a majority of those members present at the first regularly scheduled meeting in January of each year. Dues increases shall take effect only at the start of the calendar year. Payment is due by January 31st of each year. When the admittance of a new member is after July 1st, dues shall be one-half of the annual amount for the balance of the year.
SECTION 2: Any returning member whose dues are not received by March 1st shall be dropped from the roster. The Treasurer must notify the delinquent member and the President at least 15 days before taking this action.
SECTION 3: The Treasurer shall submit a financial report quarterly. The Treasurer must advise the Board of any changes to previously paid expenses or requests for new ongoing expenses. If agreed to by the Board, the Board shall present such increases or new ongoing expenses to the membership for approval. In addition, any one-time expense exceeding $100 must be approved by the Board, with the exception of presenter fees, per section 5.
SECTION 4: Outside judges will be given gift cards as honorariums in the amount of $25 for monthly competitions and $50 for the image of the year competition.
SECTION 5: While it expected that many presentations will be done by club members or friends of the club at no charge, the Program Chair will be authorized to pay an outside presenter up to $300 without seeking prior Board approval.
SECTION 6: Annual dues for the Club president shall be waived unless revoked by a vote of the membership.
SECTION 7: In the event the membership votes to cease operation of and dissolve the club, any remaining assets will be distributed equally among those members who are current on the payment of their dues as of the day of the vote.
ARTICLE VI: ELECTION OF OFFICERS (President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer)
SECTION 1: The President shall present a slate of officers to the membership at the first September meeting.
SECTION 2: At the second September and the October meetings, the President shall accept additional nominations from the floor.
SECTION 3: If there are multiple nominations for any position, at the first November meeting after nominations have been closed, a ballot shall be taken. The ballot may be secret at the request of any member. Those receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected and take office at the first meeting in January.
ARTICLE VII: VACANCIES
SECTION 1: If the office of the President shall become vacant for any reason, the Vice President shall assume the responsibilities of the office of President.
SECTION 2: If any office other than the President becomes vacant, it shall be filled by appointment by the President for the remainder of the year.
ARTICLE VIII: QUORUM
SECTION 1: One-third of the membership shall constitute a quorum.
SECTION 2: One-third of the Board shall constitute a quorum.
SECTION 3: All votes taken by the membership at large or by the Board are subject to the Quorum rules in Sections 1 and 2.
ARTICLE IX: BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SECTION 1: The Board of Directors shall consist of the club officers together with the Chairs of the Standing Committees and the immediate past President. The President may appoint two additional members who are not an Officer or committee Chair to represent the Club at large. Standing committee chairs are encouraged but not required to participate in Board meetings or votes as long as a quorum is present.
SECTION 2: The Club President shall also act as the Chair of the Board of Directors.
SECTION 3: The Club Secretary shall act as the Secretary for the Board of Directors.
SECTION 4: Board meetings shall be called at the discretion of the President or at the request of any two Board members.
ARTICLE X: AMENDMENTS
Amendments to the By-Laws and Procedures for Competitions of this Club may be adopted after a proposal to do so has been introduced, posted to the PCGC website, added to the new business section of the first meeting of the next month and additional meetings, if necessary, and passed by a majority affirmative vote of members in good standing present at a regular or special meeting of this club. The Secretary shall include such proposal(s) in the meeting minutes published to the PCGC website.
ARTICLE XI: COMMITTEES
SECTION 1: Various Club activities shall be in the hands of Standing or Special Committees or individuals, the Chairs of which shall be appointed by the President. These Chairs may, with the President's approval, appoint additional members to their committees and delegate responsibility to those members. The President may, subject to an affirmative vote of a majority of the membership at a regularly scheduled meeting, add additional Standing or Special Committees. The President and the Vice-President shall be considered members of all Standing and/or Special Committees and be involved as much as they deem necessary.
List of currently authorized Standing Committees:
- House, Attendance, and Equipment
- Website/Publicity
- Print Competition Chair
- Digital Competition Chair
- Programs Chair
SECTION 2:
The President shall appoint a member to serve as a Liaison to Photographic Society of America (PSA), so long as the club is a member. The Liaison shall keep the club membership apprised of ongoing PSA competitions and encourage member participation.
ARTICLE XII: COMPETITIONS AND AWARDS
SECTION 1: The Club shall conduct monthly competitions at our regularly scheduled meetings throughout the year in two separate divisions: Print and Digital.
SECTION 2: Rules and procedures for all club competitions and awards shall be approved by a majority vote of the members and included in the Procedures for Competitions.
SECTION 3: Annual awards for the highest scoring Photographer of the Year will be made in the first quarter of the following year according to the total points awarded to each entrant of the monthly competitions as recorded by the Print and Digital chairs. The Photographer of the Year shall be the member with the highest combined total of points from that year’s Print and Digital competitions. In the case of a tie, both (or all) participants will receive recognition as such.
SECTION 4: The Print and Digital Chairs shall submit a recap of the final standings in their respective categories to the President by February 1st so that the President may determine the Photographer of the Year and announce the results to the Club during the first meeting in February.
SECTION 5: Annual awards for the Print Image of the Year and the Digital Image of the Year shall be presented by the first meeting in March of the following year.
SECTION 6: The President shall appoint a Year End committee chair no later than December 31st who may choose up to three members to determine the process by which the eligible entries for the Image of the Year are collected and judged.
SECTION 7: The club is not responsible for lost images, digital or print.
SECTION 8: In the event the club may not meet in person for an extended period of time, the rules may be temporarily modified to combine the digital and print entries, subject to approval of a majority of the membership at a regularly scheduled meeting.
PROCEDURES FOR COMPETITIONS
Version 12, September, 2023
RULES COMMON TO PRINT AND DIGITAL COMPETITIONS
1. All entries must have been taken by the exhibitor.
2. Before an entry is accepted or a score is recorded by the relevant competition committee chair, after consultation with the exhibitor and the club president, the committee chair may determine the eligibility of an entry in meeting the competition requirements set down by these Procedures and/or the subject definition for the specific competition. In addition, any Club member present may also challenge an entry. After consultation with the exhibitor and the Club president, the committee chair then will determine its eligibility.
3. After the score or place is recorded, entries may be challenged for violations of the competition rules by any member, but can be disqualified only by a majority vote of the members present. Any points earned by an entry so disqualified shall be deleted from the record. Any such challenge must be made at the meeting during which the competition took place. Challenges to entries presented solely at a digitally conducted meeting must be made within one week of the results being posted.
4. A. If an outside judge cannot be secured, a tabulated vote of all members (club judging) may occur. Scoring will be in accordance with Rule 6 below. Each voting member will act as judge and award first through sixth place and honorable mentions.
4. B. As an alternative to 4A, the Club may vote by majority rule to delay the judging until the following meeting when an outside judge is available.
4. C. As an alternative to 4A and 4B, the club may, by majority vote, agree to have three (3) club members judge the competition. The member judges will score all images but their own. The point values awarded will be added together and divided by three for those images not submitted by one of the judges or divided by two for those submitted by one of the judges.
5. If there are twelve (12) or fewer exhibitors, places will be awarded to the top-ranking six (6) entries. If there are more than twelve (12) exhibitors, honorable mentions will be awarded in addition to the top six (6) such the that total number of awards will equal half the number of exhibitors, rounded upward.
6. Placing entries will receive points ranging from eight (8) for the first place down to three (3) for sixth place, with the honorable mention entries, if any, receiving two (2) points each. Non-placing exhibitors will receive one (1) point for participating. Entries that are disqualified shall receive no points.
7. If two or more exhibitors tie, each will receive full score for the highest place, with the next place(s) omitted.
8. Point award records will be tabulated by the Competition Chairs and kept permanently by the President. These points will be cumulative from year to year, and may be used toward annual awards as determined by the Board.
9. No judge (outside or member judge) will be given the title or name of the presenting member prior to evaluating and scoring all images.
10. Images that have placed 1st through 6th in any previous monthly competition are not eligible to be entered in any subsequent competition; Nor shall any substantially similar images to a placing image that closely resembles that placing image in subject, color, and composition be entered. If necessary, such ineligibility shall be determined as per Rule 2 above. Honorable Mention and non-placing images in each competition can be entered again in future competitions.
PRINT COMPETITIONS
1.Twelve (12) competitions shall be held each year. Nine (9) will have specific subjects assigned and three (3) will be “open” (no subject assigned).
2. Each member may submit one (1) print in either color or black and white or any combination thereof, unless otherwise specified in the assigned subject definition.
3. The minimum image size is 5"x 7" PLUS mat and the image maximum size is limited to 12’’ x 18”.
4. The prints must be identified only on the back. The title and exhibitor's name must NOT be visible from the front when viewing the print. Identification should be made on the lower back of the image.
5. All prints must be matted and/or mounted (The mat is the board in front with the cutout for the print and the mount is the board in the back that supports the print. Either or both can be used).
6. No print is to be framed. Frames will immediately eliminate a print from competition.
7. The subject matter of each print is entirely up to the photographer, except in competitions with a topic.
8. If extenuating circumstances make it impossible to meet in person, competitions may be conducted on the PCGC website, using the rules of the digital competition.
DIGITAL COMPETITIONS
1. Twelve digital competitions shall be held each year. Nine (9) will have specific subjects assigned and Three (3) will be “open” (no subject assigned).
2. Each member may submit one digital JPEG file for each competition. The digital image should be restricted to 1920 pixels wide, or less, with a maximum of 1080 pixels in height, regardless of width. If used, this would include any digital border or frame. Special dimensions may be specified by the Chair for panoramic competitions.
3. The subject matter of each image is entirely up to the maker, except in competitions with topics.
4. Entries for digital competitions must be posted to the PCGC website by 11:30 PM ET of the day of the Monthly PRINT competition. The email should include the title of the image. Late entries shall be accepted at the discretion of the Digital Chair.
5. The following procedure applies for BOTH OUTSIDE AND CLUB judging of DIGITAL images: the images shall be shown once for general viewing, and then a second time for voting. After the judging is completed and results tabulated, images will be shown again for discussion, non-placing images being shown first, Honorable Mention images shown second, and the placing images being shown last, in the reverse order of placing.
CREATIVE COMPETITION
A Creative Image Competition will be held annually, focusing on creative images and permitting unlimited manipulation and processing techniques. Up to two images may be submitted by a member. Submissions will be handled using the digital submission process. The competition will be judged by the members who may vote for two images. No cumulative points will be awarded for this competition.
AD HOC COMPETITIONS
Any member of the club may propose an ad hoc competition using either the digital or print competition submission processes, subject to an affirmative vote of a majority of the membership at a regularly scheduled meeting. Such ad hoc competitions will be judged by the club members. No cumulative points will be awarded for such competitions.
ANNUAL AWARD TYPES AND RULES
Annual Awards as described above in Article XII of the By-Laws will be made by the end February of the following year.
1. All entries must have been assigned titles for identification in the Print and Digital records.
2. The first two places from each of the monthly competitions shall be eligible for the Print of the Year and Digital Image of the Year award. A first and second place shall be awarded.
3. The Year End committee Chair will manage the judging process and present the results to the Club.
4. The members will determine the form of the Annual Awards.
5. No cumulative points will be awarded in the annual competition. All monthly competition rules will apply as specified above.
6. In the event the club may not meet in person for an extended period of time, the rules may be temporarily modified to combine the digital and print entries, subject to approval of a majority of the membership at a regularly scheduled meeting.