Following some recent confusion regarding which and how many cups should be awarded for each BPS competition I thought it would be useful to clarify the history of this topic and the current situation.
In some ways BPS could be considered to have an "embarrassment" of cups. Back in 2006 we had 28 cups which roughly equated to one cup for every two competition entrants. This is just too many! Plus the task of keeping track of 28 (some very valuable) cups and organising for their annual engraving was a significant burden. So Council reviewed the situation and decided the following:
- Cups would be awarded only for the best Print and the best Digital image in the annual Competitions.
- The Garmston Bowl and the President's Cup would be awarded to the winners of the annual competitions for Print and Digital panels, respectively.
- That Certificates, rather than cups, would be awarded to recognise success in all sub-categories of the above competitions, e.g. Nature, Travel, etc., and for 2nd and 3rd places and HC's in all competitions.
In June 2010 Council decided to reinstate the awarding of cups for the overall winners of the Advanced, Intermediate and Beginners sections of both the Print and Digital bi-monthly competitions.
That is now a total of 10 cups which is far more reasonable.
Since 2006 Council has revisited the topic of "cups" no less than 5 times and, with just the one modification in 2010, has ratified the original decision. So, personally, I think it is probably time to just communicate and run with the agreed process for few years.
However, we are aware that the current certificates awarded are not the most impressive but no-one on Council feels they have the skills to design something more fitting. So this is a call for any BPS members who do have the skills to submit designs for certificates that winners would be proud to display.
If anyone has concerns about this situation then please talk to me.
Thanks
Neil McCoubrey
