AZPPA Merit System & Awards

By Dale Holladay, PPA Certified, M. Photog., Cr. SWPPA Representative

It is my pleasure to present to you the third and final installment on the trilogy explaining our merit and award system here in AzPPA.

In the first article I addressed Print Competition and the reasons why you should (or should not) become involved.

In the second article we covered the merit system and how you apply those merits to the APPLE and Artisan Awards. As an addendum to my last article, you may be interested to know that since its inception in 1973 there have been only 73 Artisan Awards presented and since its inception in 1966 only 28 APPLE Awards presented to members of AzPPA

Continuing on, I wish to explain the balance of the awards that are presently available to all members in good standing in AzPPA.

So, you might ask, “What’s left after I receive my APPLE and Artisan Awards?’ Much like our parent organization, Professional Photographers of America, you are entitled to receive and wear on your ribbon “Service Bars”, which you will receive one for every twenty merits that you earn above those required for your APPLE and Artisan awards. For example, after you receive your 70th merit, you will be issued one Service Bar which has the word “TWENTY” printed on its face. There is no limit to the number of service bars you may receive. At this time, Frank Rigo, has the most Service Bars with a total of 19. I doubt that anyone in the near future will top that mark! Congratulations, Frank and many thanks for the years of loyal service to the association.

Now let’s turn our attention to the various print competition awards. First, of course, is the merit print which is awarded to all prints in the competition that score 80 or more points as determined by the panel of judges. These “80” prints are then reviewed again by this same panel to determine if they are worthy to be included in our “Loan” collection. If so, they are awarded a second print merit. Each print case has the potential of earning 8 print merits per year.

After the Loan Print selection, the judges then select a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place print in each of the print categories (portrait, wedding, illustrative, commercial, wedding album and event album). Unlike the regular print judging where each print is judged on its own merit, this category judging is done on a “comparison basis” of all the images entered in that particular category. Each winner receives the appropriate ribbon and the first place winner in each category also receives a trophy.

Any print that has a score of 78 or 79 is awarded a red representative ribbon and if space permits is also included in the public print display after the judging is completed.

Each judge on the panel is also given a “personal” judges choice ribbon which he/she can award to any print in the competition…even non-meriting prints.

The judges also select the images that will be awarded the Fuji Masterpiece Award, of which there are 2 each year that can be awarded to any images in the competition, and the 5 Kodak Gallery Awards, one each to be presented to their choice in the Portrait, Wedding, Illustrative/Commercial, Metallic Paper, and Event Album categories. These awards do not have to be awarded if, in the opinion of the judges, they feel that there is not a qualifying print.

That takes care of all of the awards that the panel of judges are responsible for. Now there are also awards that are predetermined by their score, total of scores or membership in other organizations/programs. These awards must go to the proper recipient based on the criteria set forth in the award.

The first of these is the Certified Professional Photographer Competition Award and must be presented to the highest scoring print that was entered by a CPP, as long as that print scores at least 80 points.

The American Society of Photographers (ASP) State Elite Award is presented to the highest scoring merited print that was entered by an ASP member.

The Top Ten Photographers in AzPPA are presented based on the total scores of their highest four prints including ties. If two or more photographers have the same total then each will receive a trophy for that place, however only 10 trophies will be awarded. For example if the 2nd, 3rd and 4th photographer is tied at the same score they would each be considered second place and then the last trophy winner would be the print case that is in 8th place.

Now for the top three print competition awards:

The Frank Rigo Award, established in 2006, was created to honor Frank Rigo for his years of service to AzPPA and is awarded to the first time entrant in any print competition of the highest total print case score. To date 5 of these awards have been given with the highest score of the 5 belonging to Shelly Fields with 325 points.

The Al Beuhman High Point Print award was established in 1966 and named in honor of Al Beuhman who was one of the “founding fathers” of AzPPA and is the only member from Arizona to serve as President of PPA. This award is given to the highest scoring print in the competition. This is a “traveling trophy” and must be returned to the next convention to be presented to the next recipient. If a person wins this award 3 consecutive years, then the trophy is “retired” (he/she gets to keep it) and a new one is produced for the next year. To date this award has been presented 44 times with the highest ever scoring print coming this year by Janice Holladay with a score of 100.

The Emil Eger Photographer of the Year Award was formerly known as The Sweepstakes Award. The name was changed in 1995 to honor Emil Eger, who also was a founding member of AzPPA and from 1951 until his health started failing him in the late ‘90’s, never missed a convention. Like the High Point Print Award this is also a “traveling trophy” and must be returned to the next convention to be presented to the next recipient. The same 3 consecutive wins rule applies and to date only 1 person, Gary Rumack of Tucson, has ever “retired” the trophy. This award has been presented 44 times with the highest total print case score of 360.6 points coming in 2008 by a case entered by Bob Coates.

No entrant can win more than one of these awards in the same year. For example, if the person winning Emil Eger Photographer of the Year Award is also the holder of the High Point Print and/or is a first time entrant, then that person would receive only the Photographer of the Year Award and the next highest point print would receive the Al Beuhman High Point Print Award and the Frank Rigo Award would go to the entrant of the next highest print case for a first timer. So the “hierarchy” of the awards in order of presentation is Photographer of the Year, High Point Print, and Frank Rigo First Time Entrant.

Now let’s turn our attention to the awards that are not “earned” per se, but are “bestowed” up worthy recipients.

The AzPPA Past President’s Medallion is a Silver AzPPA medallion similar to the APPLE/Artisan Award; however it is supported with a Black Ribbon. It is presented to each President of AzPPA as they finish their term of office. It could be argued that this award is “earned” and not bestowed. Anyone who has served in this position certainly knows that they did earn it. To date there have been 57 different presidents over the past 62 years with 5 individuals serving two terms.

The National Award is the highest award that can be bestowed upon an individual, couple or group of people on behalf of PPA and AzPPA combined. The criteria for presentation are based on service “above and beyond the call of duty” and are not necessarily awarded each year. Because of the prestige of this award it is never to be presented in a frivolous manner and is to be reserved for outstanding contributions to AzPPA as well as PPA. No one person can receive the National Award more than once from the same sponsoring organization, however they can receive another award from other state or regional associations. To date 26 individuals have received this award from AzPPA

The Crystal APPLE Award is the highest award that AzPPA can bestow upon an individual. It is equivalent to an Honorary APPLE Award and carries a lifetime membership for those who receive it. Because of this, it is not to be given out each year. My wife, Janice and I sat on the board when this award was established and it was discussed that because of the esteem of this award there could possibly only be a handful of recipients through the years. It was created to reward a “lifetime” of service to the organization. This requirement alone should limit the presentation of this award. As I mentioned to the board at our last meeting, there are several of us that have received the award, that feel that it was presented to us prematurely. The first recipient was Emil Eger, whose service and longevity in the association has only been matched by Frank Rigo, who is the second recipient of this award. To date 9 individuals have been honored with this award.

Both the National Award and the Crystal APPLE Award recipients are selected by a panel of 3 or 4 past recipients of the award, with the most recent past recipient, when available, acting as the chairman of the committee.

I believe that this about covers all of the information that pertains to Merits and Awards. Since much of this type of information can become lost or distorted through time, the board felt that it was prudent to present not only the history of these awards but also the criteria for the presentation of each. I hope that this has been enlightening and also motivating to you. I hope to see many of you receiving these awards in the near future. Good luck!