AV News Magazine | Page 33

AV News 201 - August 2015 Robert Albright FRPS T h e P A G B A V A w a rd s ...and the implications for The Royal Photographic Society On Sunday the 10 May 2015 I was privileged to chair the Panel for the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain AV Awards. The event was held at Steventon Village Hall, just 1 mile from the A34 and 10 miles south of Oxford. It was the result of two years discussion at the PAGB Executive, of which I am a member, and much hard work behind the scenes by Rod Wheelans, Awards Officer for the PAGB, Ian Bateman and Wantage Camera Club. There was an enthusiastic response to the re-launched AV Awards with 24 applications of which we only had time to programme 14 on the day. The hall is already booked for a full weekend in May 2016. As Chair of Judges I was appointed to help select the Adjudicators, to oversee the organisation of the Adjudication Day and to join the panel as a voting participant. The adjudications were overseen and hosted by the Chair of the APM Sub Committee, Rod Wheelans. The adjudications were carried out by a panel of five adjudicators, including the voting Chair of Adjudicators. They were selected from the PAGB Approved List to balance specialist AV skills with general photographic skills, being Robert Albright (Chair), Martin Fry, Howard Bagshaw, Richard Speirs and Paul Keene. The Non-Voting Chairman of the event observed closely throughout the proceedings. Both he and the Chair of the Panel had authority to withdraw the panel for private discussion if required. This authority was exercised on a couple of occasions. Each of the 5 Adjudicators voted using green and red cards, without discussion, on the total sequences submitted by each entrant. After this initial vote, the Chair of the Panel invited some of the Adjudicators to comment. The Chair of Adjudicators summarised. Then a second and deciding vote was called. The results were as follows: 10 applications at CREDIT level, the following 5 were successful: Michael Reed ARPS Windlesham & Camberley CC Surrey PA 'The Tall Ships Regatta 2014' 'Pompeii' Jeff Mansell, Staffordshire AVGroup Midland Counties PF 'Val's Story' 'The Magic of Trentham' Page 31