MMCC: The BEST OF YEAR Contest and Complete Rules 2025

Everything you need to know about BOY (Best of Year) and the Bob Jagendorf Creative Photography Competitions on Monday, May 19, 2025.

This is a fast-paced, lively event.  And it's fun to see how different judges score your photo.  It's our last event of the season before our EOY (End of Year) Awards announcement and before we break for the summer until next September.  Good luck with your entries!

Time now to start choosing your “6” BOY entries and your “1” Bob Jagendorf Creative Photo entry (see rules below).

MMCC BOY (BEST OF YEAR) COMPETITION

Only 2 contests based on the 2 groups:  Basic and Salon.  There will be no separate Special Theme contest because there is no way to tell the judges what the special theme was, since there were so many different special themes throughout the season. Instead, each person may submit 6 digital photos in the group in which they are ranked (Basic or Salon) and those photos may be chosen from the Open or Special Theme entries that were submitted in this 2024-2025 Season’s competitions, NOT FROM PREVIOUS SEASONS, as I mistakenly informed you all, yesterday.

Regarding the photos you chose to submit to BOY. It does not matter what score your photo received during the season.  Even if you got a "6" on a photo, you can enter that photo into BOY.  It's up to you to choose whatever photo, no matter the score received, that you like.  Repeat... your entries do not have to be highly scored, just images you think were especially good or interesting that you would like to put forth again.  Remember, you will have 3 new judges looking at your photo who could, maybe, see a "9" where the previous judge saw a "6".

MMCC BOY RULES - READ CAREFULLY

1. Up to 6 digital photos that were entered into a competition during our present 2024-2025 Season, not other past seasons.

 2. It can be a photo from the Open or Special Theme.  There will, however, be no reference to what the topic of the special theme was originally.  Example: Morris entered digitals in both the Open and Special Theme contests. Morris may choose a digital from either of those to enter in BOY in his ranking. If he chooses to enter a digital from one of his Special Theme contest entries, the judges will not be aware that the photo is linked to a special theme.

3. Contestants will be allowed to "tweak" their photos along the lines of what the judges said would make the photo better.  Tweaking means "some" change, not making it into a wholly different image.  Example: You thought you had a winning photo and entered it in the March contest.  Oops, it was not a winner! Now you realize, thanks to the judge's comments at the time, what you did wrong.  So for BOY, you can make those corrections to the photo.

BOB JAGENDORF CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY RULES

You may submit 1 (ONE) creative digital photo of your choosing which you deem to be “creative.”  

Creative will not be defined here…. it is solely up to your discretion to choose a photo you think is in any way creative.  Janet suggests determining what’s “creative” like you do Obscenity – You Know It When You See It.

Your one entry does NOT have to have been in an MMCC competition.  You may choose from any photo you have ever taken anywhere, anytime, anyplace.

JUDGES

There will be three judges for this contest.  They will not be commenting on your photos.  They will only score your photos.  The judges will each have 4 paddles with score numbers:  6, 7, 8, 9 (no half points), which they will hold up simultaneously to score your photo.  

The 3 scores will be added together for that final score.  When all has been scored, the highest final scores will be chosen for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED !!!

Who is good at math?  Need a couple of people to do the fast math to get the cumulative score.  For example, the three judges give Carol's photo a "9", a "7", and a "9".  This equals 25.  Obviously the best score you can get are three "9s," which would equal 27.

WINNERS

Winners of BOY & Bob Jagendorf Creative Photography competitions, as well as the winners of the EOY (End of Year) Open and Special Theme competitions, will be announced in June, along with those (if any) who graduated from Basic to Salon.  It has yet to be determined if we will meet in person or conduct the ceremonies over Zoom.