External competitions list
From time to time we are sent details of external competitions, exhibitions and other places you can send your images and prints.
You may have missed seeing this from the latest PAGB newsletter.
So if you want to get your image seen by 8,000 people, send it off now!
The NWPA has Three competitions in 2026
All competitions are for 'new' work. That is, for photographs not used in any previous NWPA competition.
As usual, judging will be held at the Craig y Don Community Centre in Llandudno. All mmembers are invited to attend.
The first NWPA competition is an inter club print battle. It will be judged on Saturday 11 April 2026.
I have just confirmed the judge for the NWPA Print Battle which is taking place at Craig y Don Llandudno on Saturday, the 11th April.
It is planned to be a full day event – the handing in of the competition prints plus an exhibition of club prints first thing, followed by a break and then a talk by our visiting Judge, Steve Proctor MPAGB from Clitheroe.
Then it will be lunch followed by the judging of the competition.
The rules are the same as previous years – each club provides their entry of 8 prints. The theme is Open and the entry must consist of at least 3 monochrome prints, at least 3 colour prints and no more than two nature prints within the 8.
To encourage our smaller clubs to take part there is no restriction on the number of prints per entrant – however we would hope that if possible, more members are used …..and if a club with a limited number of entrants comes first or second – they will not be invited to represent the NWPA at the PAGB Print Championships as many more prints are required and from a greater number of authors.
I will be sending out the invitations for clubs to take part during February and for those who are – I will then send out full details.
The second NWPA competition is a members (not a club) competition. This will be judged on Saturday 11 July 2026.
The categories for this one are:
- Open Colour
- Open Mono
- Nature
Entries are invited for PDI and or prints, so a total of 6 classes.
Members may submit a maximum of 4 in any combination of the classes. e.g.
| Max entry combination | Categories |
| 4 PDI 0 Print | Colour, mono, or nature |
| 3 PDI 1 Print | Colour, mono, or nature |
| 2 PDI 2 Prints | Colour, mono, or nature |
| 1 PDI 3 Prints | Colour, mono, or nature |
| 0 PDI 4 Prints | Colour, mono, or nature |
The third NWPA competition is a club PDI competition. This will be judged on 8 November 2026.
The list of categories for the interclub PDI battle are as follows:
- Altered reality
- Architecture
- Contre-Jour/Night
- Close up/Macro
- Motion
- Nature
- Portrait
- Scape
- Street scene
- Travel
- Wild Card
- Plus one further Open, to act as the tie breaker if needed. This will not be judged unless there is a tie for first place.
Each club may submit a maximum of 8 images from the 11 categories, with only one from each category, plus one open image for the tie breaker if it is needed.
PAGB Master of Print
This competition is run by the PAGB annually, for the top level of print work. Entries close in November.
A maximum of 60 images are selected each year, so competition is fierce. Images must be new work, never seen in a previous national or PAGB exhibition.
Categories are:
- Colour
- Mono
- Nature
Members can submit upto 5 prints from any of these categories.
Individual entry is £15 for 5 prints.
If a few Club members want to enter, it is possible to do a club entry. In this case, prints are amalgamated together, at £3 per print, with a minimum total of £15.
This would benefit members only wanting to enter 1 or 2 prints.
Full details (7pages) are available on the PAGB website, under the events tab.
Or, click on the PAGB logo at the foot of this page and enter 'Masters of print' in the search box.
If members hear of any other competitions, or opportunities to showcase our images/prints, let the Club Secretary know so the details can be shared on this page.