The purpose of this page is to define terms, describe the awards given and specify scoring guidelines for NJFCC competitions.

Definitions

The following is a list of definitions associated with NJFCC competitions.

Term	Definition
Print	A competition where the image has been printed on a paper medium.
Monochrome	Images consisting of only shades of a single color; e.g., gray-scale and sepia. Accent colors are not permitted.
Pictorial	A competition wherein the subject matter, composition and style of the image are not limited.
Photo Travel Image	An image that captures the feeling of a time and place, and portrays a land, its people, or a culture in its natural state.
Nature Photography	Nature photography depicts ovservations from all branches of natural history, except anthropology and archeology. Nature competitions are supposed to depict natural, not man-made situations.
Botanical	An NJFCC competition sub-category of nature photography. Images having living plant life as their main subject are admissible for competitions in this sub-category. This sub-category also includes fungus (mushrooms) and other primitive plants, such as moss and lichens.
General Nature	An NJFCC competition sub-category of nature photography. Scenic images (landscapes and seascapes) are admissible for competitions in this sub-category.
Ornithological	An NJFCC competition sub-category of nature photography. Images having living birds as their main subject are admissible for competitions in this sub-category.
Zoological	An NJFCC competition sub-category of nature photography. Images having living, non-human, non-avian animals as their main subject are admissible for competitions in this sub-category.

Award Descriptions

The following table describes the awards given in NJFCC competitions.

Award	Award Description
Plaque	This award is given to the best image as determined by the judges. Currently, a plaque award is only given in the TOPS in New Jersey competitions.
Medal	In non-TOPS competitions, this award is given to the best image as determined by the judges. In TOPS competitions, this award is given to the second best image as determined by the judges.
Merit Award	This award is given to all of the other images in a competition that received the same combined score as the image receiving a medal award. If no entries receive the same score as the medal award winner, then merit awards are given to images receiving the next lower combined score.
Honorable Mention	The total number of awards given in a competition is about 20% of the total images entered. This award is given to all those images that have achieved combined scores in the top 20% that did not receive a plaque, medal or merit award.

Suggested Scoring Guidelines

Judges review every image entered in the competition and assign a score, in the range of 3 to 9, to an image according to the guidelines given in the table below.

Score	Score Interpretation
8 or 9	Merit Award/Medal/Plaque candidate
7	Honorable Mention candidate
6	Better than average, but not an HM candidate
5	Average
3 or 4	Below average