Film Photographer of the year 2025 - Rules and Themes

[sirch]

THIS IS THE RULES THREAD, no chat in here please - >>>Click Here for the Discussion Thread<<<

Overview-

FPOTY is a year long competition divided into 12 smaller monthly competitions, or “themes”. The monthly thread opens for entries on the first of each calendar month and closes at 23.59 on the final day of that same month. Entries are required to be posted (not taken, see below) in the specific thread for that theme by the closing date and time.

A photo may be taken from 1st December 2024, until the final day of the month for that theme. For example, January’s entry may be taken between 1st December 2024 and 31st January 2025, and October’s entry can be taken between 1st December 2024 and 31st October 2025.

After the theme has closed at 11:59 on the last day of the month, a poll will be added to allow forum members to vote on their choices to win that month’s theme. Please note that any member of the Talk Photography forum can vote, not just those who have entered or F&C regulars. This poll will typically appear in the first few days of the next month, with some leeway as the organiser might be unavailable for a day or two. Ordinarily, it will remain open for seven calendar days after which it will close automatically.

Once the poll has closed, the organiser will calculate the votes for each competitor and add the results to the year to date table. The overall theme winner and point scorers will be announced and the up to date table displayed.

After every theme is complete, and the year is finished, the overall winner of FPOTY 2025 will be the person with the most points scored over the year.
In the event of an overall tie the number of monthly wins will be counted to decide the winner, in the unlikely event that there is still a tie the number of 2nd place finishes will be counted etc etc etc.

Whilst very unlikely, all of the above may be subject to change if the participants agree that a change is needed,

There is no prize apart from being able to brag about it at the next F&C meet!

Rules

• All images entered in FPOTY 2025 must have been taken by you ON FILM and shot on or after the 1st December 2024.
• The date the photo is taken is defined as the day the shutter is pressed to record the image to film, not the date the film was scanned etc.
• Digital scans of film negatives are obviously acceptable but so are scans of wet prints, scans of Polaroids, or even a photogram if you’re feeling particularly brave. Lab developing or scanning of films is perfectly acceptable.
• Anyone can enter this competition at any time, providing that all the rules are met. You do not need to sign up or do anything except post a suitable film photo in the thread for the theme.
• One entry per competitor per month.
• Entries cannot be changed once submitted. However, if you find that Flickr etc over sharpens your image or a similar issue, then you are free to re-upload the image again with small changes to make sure that it looks it’s best on the theme thread. To clarify, you cannot change your image for another one, but you can re-upload the same image again with minor amendments which affect the way it’s displayed.
• Ideally entries should be acceptable for viewing by all audiences in all locations. Entries which are NSFW can still be submitted providing that they meet the forum rules but they should be posted as a link rather than embedded in the thread. They must have a note to say that they are NSFW in order to help people keep their jobs if they’re at work on their lunch, or browsing the forum next to their family etc.
• There are no restrictions on the interpretation of a theme but be aware that other members who are voting may not share your elastic interpretation and vote accordingly.

Votes

• There will be 3 votes per voter
• You do not have to use all of your votes
• Votes are private, and who you vote for cannot be seen by other members.

Points

• Points will be allocated as P = V x F/N where P is points, V is number of votes, N is the number of voters and F is a factor based on the number of voters in the first month (likely to be set around 30) to normalise the points due to an expected drop-off in the number of voters during the year. I know this sounds complicated but in reality if you get any votes you will get some points and the photo with the most votes will get the most points. Just for the avoidance of doubt the factor F will not change through the year after it has been set.

Themes
Themes have been suggested by 2024 participants.

1. Contrast
2. Edge
3. Looking up
4. Wet
5. Yum!
6. People
7. Work
8. Close Up
9. Textures of Nature
10. The Passage of Time
11. Minimalist
12. Still life