General Rules

1. Entrants must complete an entry form for each entry they intend to submit. The form must be received by the Competition Secretary by the date specified thereon. Arrangements for the receipt of entries are given on the form.
2. While every care will be taken of the entries, the Society and its officers accept no responsibility for loss or damage to any entry while it is in the possession of the Society. Members are advised to make their own arrangements for the insurance of their entries.
3. "Physical" entries will be returned by the same means as they are received unless other arrangements have been made with the Competition Secretary. The cost of returning entries will be paid by the Society.
4. All entries must be the sole property of the entrant.
5. All "virtual" entries must be of material that is owned by the entrant and must not be enhanced by using programs such as Photoshop.
6. Entrants may submit more than one entry in any Competition and for more than one Competition for which they are eligible. Identical entries to the "virtual" and "physical" Competitions are not allowed.
7. Entries that have previously won an award (excluding the Secretaries' Cup) in any of the Competitions cannot be entered again unless a substantial amount of material is different.
8. The Competitions shall be judged by at least two judges, one of whom shall be the President, a Vice-President or a Past President.
9. The Judges shall be absolved from declaring a winner if they consider that none of the entries deserves an award or if there is only one entry in the Competition.
10. The Judges reserve the right to re-allocate an entry or to exclude any entry they consider to be ineligible in the Competition for which it is entered.
11. The sheet size should normally be not more than 290mm high and 230mm wide, but larger sheets may be accepted if they can be adequately displayed. The Competition Secretary should be consulted first.
12. All "physical" sheets must be enclosed in an individual protective cover and be numbered.
13. The first sheet should be used as an introductory page, defining the subject and scope of the entry. An entry will not be penalised if the first sheet does not contain any philatelic items.
14. Winners of the "physical" Competition may retain the trophy for one year; it will be engraved with the winner's name at the Society's expense. Winners of the "physical" and "virtual" Competitions will receive a certificate signed by the President of the Society and a memento.
15. Copied material (scans, photographs, etc.) in entries must be clearly labelled as such and should be at least 25% larger or smaller than the actual size of the item depicted. Exceptions apply in the Martin Willcocks Award or Theo Jones Open Class Salver Competitions where original-size reproductions or parts thereof are permitted if described as such.

Notes

1. It is important that entrants have given careful thought to the subject selected for the Competition entry so that an appropriate balance, depth and breadth is maintained.
2. For display to the Judges and members each entry will be arranged in four rows of four sheets (or equivalent).
3. Entrants should consider the overall appearance of their entry when the sheets are displayed.
4. The Judges, if requested by individual entrants, will comment on the entries if there is opportunity so to do.
5. Scans at 300 ppi of each page of the entry are requested and should be separate JPEG files. These will be uploaded to the members’ section of the GBPS website for viewing on Competition day and subsequently.
6. If you have any queries regarding the rules or want advice on preparing your entry, please contact the .