The John Widdall Trophy was initiated last year in the memory of one of our longest serving members. John had been on our council since the mid-1970s until 2020. He undertook many roles, from Secretary to Exhibition Secretary and was Treasurer for several years until 2020.
The requirement, for an entry, is a set of four projected images, chosen from 4 categories (Panorama…Close up and Table Top…Architectural Record…and Montage (Composite). Each set must contain at least two of the categories and each member may enter up to three sets.
This year was the second year it was run and our judge was one of our most liked and respected judges, David Gibbins, ARPS, APAGB, EFIAP/b, BPE5*. Dave is a member of Beeston Camera Club, Nottingham, so joined us via a Zoom link. We loved his enthusiastic approach to appraising our images, which showed both sensitivity and attention to detail. The judging is done in the categories, not in the sets, so both the judge and the audience are kept guessing until the sets are brought together, and the totals calculated, at the end of the evening…sounds complicated, but it turned out to be instantaneous this year, using spreadsheets.
The winning set was by Christine Widdall, who had entered for the first time, having been the competition’s judge last year, so the trophy will “come home” for twelve months when it is presented at the AGM. In fact, our female photographers did remarkably well, with eight of the top nine sets being by Christine, Andrea and Gill. The entry comprised 76 images and we hope that many more members will enter next time.
Scoring 79 marks out of a possible 80, this is the winning set, containing three composites and one close-up.
