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Merit League Shields

The club started in 1982 and held its first competition in the following year. Initially the club bought two shields, the Merit League Shield (Print) and the Merit League Shield (Slide). Ten years later, in 1993, it was decided that an increase in black and white print entries warranted three sections, and so a new shield was provided by member Bob Pike, the Bob Pike Black and White Print Merit Shield. From this time too, points from other competitions were also included in the league (except the Nature Portfolio and from 2008, the Challenge from the Chair).
After securing a grant for digital equipment from the National Lottery in 2006, another merit league was introduced from 2007, initially with three competitions per year and specifically for digitally projected images. It was given the rather protracted name of the National Lottery Digitally Projected Image Merit League Shield. From 2009 the Merit Slide League was terminated for lack of entries and the Shield retired, but the Bill Watson Memorial Slide Trophy continues as a slide competition once a year. (See Best of Year below). At this time, slides were replaced with DPIs in other slide competitions and their points allocated to the DPI Merit League
As with all the cups and trophies, the shields are returned at the end of the year. But smaller permanently -held shields are also presented for placings in the Merit League.

Challenge Cups

The Challenge Cup competitions were another early starter in the club’s history with four cups being bought in 1983, two for prints and two for slides. Even at this early date there were two Challenge competitions per year and the competitions were, as now, always ‘open’ subject. Once again, the increase in black & white work resulted in another section being required and two more cups were purchased in 1994. From 2009 the Challenge Cup (Slides) cup was reused for the Challenge Cup DPI award.

Portraiture Cups

There were originally three Portraiture Awards and the cups all have different histories. In 1984 the Ivybridge Community Association (ICA), to which we were affiliated in the early days, gave us two ‘redundant’ cups, (which explains the odd engraving) one of which became the Leon Watkins Portraiture Colour Print Cup. Leon Watkins was a prominent member of the Ivybridge community. The Leonard Ive Portraiture Black and White Print Cup was presented by club member Pat Hawkins in respect of his mentor Leonard Ive, who devoted a lot of his time to teaching Pat the art of photography. The Portraiture Slide Cup was purchased from club funds. It was retired in 2008 after a decline in slide popularity amongst members.

Challenge from the Chair Awards

A similar history surrounds the Challenge from the Chair awards with the Derek Bowden Challenge from the Chair Colour Print Cup donated by the ICA in 1984 and named after another prominent member of the Ivybridge community. The Challenge from the Chair Black and White Plaque was purchased from club funds. The Alf Couch Challenge from the Chair Slide Cup was presented by club member Alf Couch during his term of office as Club Chairman. From 2009 it was reused as the Alf Couch Challenge from the Chair DPI Cup

Nature Panel Trophies o

Stan O’Neil, a member of the club from 1989 to 1993 was a keen nature photographer and encouraged fellow members to try the subject. He presented the club with two awards, the Stan O’Neil Nature Portfolio Print and Slide Trophies, both exquisitely hand-crafted by himself, and requested that the club hold a print and slide portfolio competition every year. From 2009 the Slide trophy was reused as the Stan O’Neil Nature Portfolio DPI Trophy. At the 2011 AGM members voted almost unanimously to change the Portfolios to co-ordinated Panels.

Sports Photographer of the Year Cup

Keith Miller provided the Ken Miller Sports Photographer of the Year Cup in 1997 in memory of his father who was a keen sportsman. Keith, an avid sports photographer, donated the cup to the club to encourage members to partake in sports photography. This is a colour print only competition.

Eric Foster Cup

Eric Foster was a prominent member of the club working mainly in monochrome and when he passed away in November 2006 his sons requested that the club run an annual challenge cup in his memory. The Eric Foster Memorial Challenge Cup is a monochrome only competition.

Best of Year Awards &
Bill Watson Memorial Slide Trophy

Club members, past and present, have provided Best of Year awards for the best images from each category in the year’s competitions. Bill Watson, the joint founder of our club donated the Bill Watson Best of Year Slide Trophy (a lovely woden bowl) and when he passed away in 2001 the trophy was renamed the Bill Watson Memorial Slide Bowl. From 2009 slides were replaced by Digitally Projected Images in many competitions but the Bill Watson Memorial Slide Trophy continues as a slide competition once a year, so effectively remains a 'best of year' event.
In 1990 Roy Warnes donated the Best of Year Black and White Print Trophy and Keith Mullin donated the Best of Year Colour Print Salver. David Rayner was involved with obtaining our National Lottery grant for digital equipment and in 2007 donated the Best of Year Digitally Projected Image Cup to complement the introduction of the Digitally Projected Image Merit League.

National Lottery Year’s Best Progress Shield

The National Lottery Year’s Best Progress Shield was introduced in 2007 with funding from the National Lottery, to be presented for the best progress during the competition year.