Print competitions are the soul of a good camera club. They also test everyone's admin skills more than any digital format ever will. Here's how to run them without ending up with three mystery prints and one angry member.

How do we organise print competitions?

Prints are physical objects. That means tracking is everything. Every print needs a label with the photographer's code and the image title on the back — not on the front where the judge can see it.

How do we record print titles?

Same as PDI: submit titles ahead of time by CSV, email, or web form. Never rely on reading the label under stage lights. If you don't have the titles typed up before the meeting, expect typos.

How do we keep track of mounted prints?

A physical sign-in sheet at the door — every member drops their prints and signs a line saying "I submitted N prints." At the end of the night, cross-check against that list before members leave. Five minutes' work, saves an evening of angry emails.

What's the best way to label prints?

Stick-on labels on the back of the mount. Fields:

Photographer code (short, unique)
Image title
Competition name and date
Which way is up (arrow — you'd be surprised)

Camera Club Score can produce a printable sheet of these labels from the running order — the PDF export includes a "labels" mode designed to print onto standard Avery stock.

How do we avoid losing prints?

The rule that eliminates 90% of losses: never leave the judging table unattended until every print is back with its owner. Sounds obvious. Nobody actually does it.

How do we record returned prints?

At the end of the night, the sign-in sheet doubles as a sign-out sheet. Owner initials again next to their name. Any prints unclaimed go into a labelled box with the date — usually picked up next week.

Once you've solved the physical tracking, the scoring workflow is identical to PDI. Camera Club Scorehandles them the same way.