The Photographic Society of America has seven divisions: Color Projected Image, Electronic Imaging, Nature, Photo Travel, Photojournalism, Pictorial Prints and Stereo. The focus of each division is pretty well described by the division name. Our club is broken down into essentially the same units where applicable.

PSA's divisions have a variety of services and typically the divisions sponsor certain functions which can be described as "some sort of competition". Perhaps the most popular competitions are called "inter-club". While the procedures differ slightly from division-to-division, typically there are 3 or 4 competitions a year and a "annual competition" for the year's winners. Only clubs may enter.

Clubs are placed into "classes". A club's entries in each competition receive points and based on the club's total point standing, they are either promoted to the next higher class or left in their present class or moved to the next lower class. Normally a club is permitted to enter between 4 and 6 images in a competition and the club's entry may have only 1 image from any individual.

Individual participants are not required to be members of PSA, but the club is. The St. Louis Camera Club has been a member of PSA since 1940.

The St. Louis Camera Club has been invited to participate in a number of division's "Inter-Club" competitions and Kathy O'Donnell has agreed to serve as the coordinator.

1. The web page that we use for our regular weekly competitions has been modified very slightly for each of the interclub competitions. For all practical purposes, the process is identical to the weekly competitions and any differences are self-evident.

2. Each competition has a deadline which will be shown on the division's "Click here to submit . . . ". Each division is shown below.

3. Club members may submit any image which meets the division's standards (definitions will be posted where relevant for your easy reference). Members may submit more than one image for consideration.

4. If you wish to enter more than one image, you are encouraged to "practice diversity". The club's entries will be stronger if they have a diverse set of excellent images. In nature, for example, we would like to have insects, birds, botanical subjects, mammals, etc. represented. One never knows what a judging club will be looking for or what other competitors may have entered.

5. You may enter an image which has been accepted in a club competition or you may enter one which has not received a camera club point. Participation and images are totally outside the regular weekly competitions.

6. Kathy O'Donnell will have a randomly-selected team from the pool of inter-club participants who make the selection decisions for each competition.

7. If one of your images is selected, you will be asked to either give Kathy $3 cash or to click on that competition's PayPal logo. The $3 covers the competition fees and what ever other expenses are necessary for an individual competition. The club will not have any expense associated with these competitions.

1. This web page will have a "click here" for each of the competitions to see how our members did against other clubs and we will have image pages, essentially identical to the weekly winning image pages, to display the images submitted and their scores (when available).

2. The clubs which participate in the competition are the clubs which judge the competitions. If a club is invited to judge "the April competition", then it is permitted to have a "double" or "makeup" entry at another time so it is never disadvantaged in the annual point compilation by being a host.

Why Us? The outstanding performance of the St. Louis Camera Club members in the Trierenberg/Special Themes Circuits in Austria and the PSA Exhibition has been noticed by a lot of people and this has resulted in invitations to participate and invitations to be a judging club (probably CPID Inter-Club in April).

Why Me? Competing outside the camera club is not for everyone and one should never feel pressured to participate if you would prefer not to. On the other hand, competing in venues outside of the club will always give you different perspectives on your photography.

Most of us have learned our photographic skills from the club's programs and competition commentators. We hone those skills every week. Seeing how your images do outside the club and outside the region and even outside the country may help you see your strengths and your weaknesses from an entirely different and totally neutral point of view.

Would you like more information about PSA, including how to compete in international exhibitions? Contact Kathy O'Donnell, PSA's newest Region Director at 314-323-4400 or click here to email her.

Many members of the St. Louis Camera Club entered the 2007 PSA Exhibition in a variety of sections. The club's entry to the Electronic Imaging Division - Open Section received more points than any other camera club in the world. Hence Kathy O'Donnell, PSA Region 4 Director, presented the award to the club at the September 5, 2007 meeting.

The individuals looking at the award are some of the entrants. Thanks to Pat Tenney for capturing the moment.

To view the winning images in this section, click here.