The Photographic Alliance of Great Britain Inter Club Print Championship 2011 was held at Connah's Quay, recently, and Tenby Camera Club won the plate competition (writes G. M.).

I would like to give the background of this event and explain the enormity of what this simple statement means. The PAGB is the national body representing all photographic clubs in Great Britain, with the clubs having been split into 15 area associations, the Welsh Photographic Association being the one that we belong to.

Every year, the area associations choose two member clubs to go forward and represent them at the PAGB Inter Club Print Championship. Tenby and Gwynfa had been chosen by the WPF, as they were the two clubs who had tied for first place in the Gwyn Morgan Trophy at the Welsh Salon.

Clubs that did well in the previous year had pre-qualified and so 36 clubs lined up to do battle last weekend, watched by an audience of over 300 people, for what is in effect the 'British National Championships' for prints.

The format of the competition is that there are two rounds, with the top eight clubs after the first round competing for the cup and the remaining 28 clubs competing for the plate.

Jill Baxter had to decide beforehand which 12 prints had to be entered in the first round, with restrictions being imposed on the number of authors, colour, mono and wildlife prints being submitted. It was very much a case of having a broad selection of prints and crossing your fingers that the judges liked that sort of thing. As it was, we did very well and when the scores were all added up we totalled 140 points, just five points short of qualifying for the cup!

There was a maximum possible of 15 points that could be scored for each print. Some 432 prints were judged, lowest score being nine and highest being 15. Lots of prints were given nine, but fortunately we didn't get one. Ten or 11 were the average scores, with fewer achieving 12 or 13 and 14s were rare and only four prints achieved the maximum of 15.

The 12 images we had put forward in the first round were: Metal Worker - Jill Baxter, 10; Kite Surfer - Mike Cullis, 13; Right Time, Right Plaice - Roy Packer, 12; Walking in the Rain - Gill Mackay, 11; At Home - Gill Mackay, 12; Red Squirrel - Andrew Baxter, 12; Pisces - Jill Baxter, 11; Stockings Laid Ready - Jill Baxter, 14; Liwa Sand Dunes - Mike Cullis, 11; Societa Operuia - Gill Mackay, 10; East Wind - Jill Baxter, 11; Kingfisher Celebration - Paul Richards, 13.

So we were in the plate, all points scored to date counted for nothing and Jill Baxter had to select a further five images for the deciding round. It became apparent that the judges didn't favour creative work or studio portraits, however straight sports images were getting high marks.

After much deliberation and soul searching, the following prints were chosen: Turkish Woman with Cats - Jill Baxter, 12; Kite Surfer - Mike Cullis, 12; Point of Exhaustion - Mike Cullis, 12; Leather on Willow - Sue McKehon, 13; Stockings Laid Ready - Jill Baxter, 14.

A very nervous wait then followed for the results to be announced and it soon became apparent that we had tied with Stafford Photographic Society for first place, and we each won a silver medal and shared the plate.

Needless to say, there were considerable whoops of joy and cries of yes! yes! etc. from the Welsh contingent. We did, however, restrain from doing a conga around the hall.

The cup championship was jointly won by Edinburgh PS and Arden PG, who both presented prints of excellent quality. Wigan 10 were in third place, which seemed to please some clubs. The magnitude of what we achieved cannot be understated. Tenby has never qualified for this competition before, and no Welsh club has ever won the plate or come close to qualifying for the cup. Every credit should be given to Jill Baxter for her choices, to those members whose prints were used and also to those many members whose prints were in Jill's portfolio which meant she had a wide choice of styles to make a selection from.

The icing on the cake for the afternoon was to learn that one of the judges, Tom Dodd, awarded Jill Baxter a silver medal for her print of 'Stockings Laid Ready'.