2024 Judging Accreditation Programme – Photographic Society of South Africa

JAP 2024 - Applications now open

Please open or download the introduction letter and read first before sending in your application.
The application form can be accessed via a link on the letter.

Introduction

Whether it’s judging at your monthly meetings or at Salons, judging is one of the most important club elements, where our members gain knowledge and insight into how to improve their photography and skill, and importantly, how they get rewarded at the relevant judging forums.

As this is such a vital element, the JAP program was developed by the PSSA to train the judges to give consistent, fair, accurate and helpful advice to our members at the relevant judging forums and create constancy in judging throughout the regions.

The JAP program has been further developed by a national JAP committee, comprising of senior judges from around the country: Alan Nixon (JAP Chair KZN), Francois Roux (PSSA Financial Director), Nicol du Toit (Regional Director Western Cape), Geoff Feldon (PSSA 2nd Vice President, Regional Director KZN), Charmaine Joubert (PSSA Board, Competitions and Social Media), Chris Nel (Regional Director Central Societies) and Anton la Grange (PSSA Youth Division).

There are two parts to JAP:

Training
Accreditation

Training

The national program will run over twelve months via Zoom, with one session per month, ending with an accreditation presentation by the course attendees. Attendees will need to be present at a minimum of 80% of the sessions to qualify for accreditation.

To be eligible to participate in the program an applicant will need to hold a club ranking of 4 star or higher. Applicants need not be members of the PSSA but must be active members of a PSSA club and commit to judging once they have completed the program and accreditation. A general application form will be available to download at this section of the PSSA website and will also be available from the regional directors from March 2024. The closing date for applications will be 31 April 2024. The national JAP 24 will commence in July 2024. Applications will be first verified by the committee and regional directors before acceptance onto the program. If you are successful you will be notified of your acceptance before the program starts.

We encourage, not only new judges to apply, but existing judges as well, to gain their accreditation and continue their judges’ training as we should never stop learning.

The JAP fee is R550.

Accreditation

Accreditation is the formal recognition by the PSSA given to a judge that has completed the JAP and been successful with their accreditation evaluation.

Accreditation can be included when presenting your credentials as a judge.

Accreditation will follow the national JAP and will take place after the 2024 JAP has been completed.

A national database of accredited judges is available under the JAP tab (below), for all regions and clubs to access, for either salon or monthly club judging. Clubs are encouraged to start using accredited judges from all the regions, not just their own, to start cross-pollination which will ultimately benefit club members by having diverse, but consistent judges appraise their images.

If you need any further information about the JAP please contact Alan Nixon or Francois Roux or contact your regional director.

National database of accredited judges per region

A national database of accredited judges has been created for all regions and clubs to access for either salon or monthly club judging. Clubs are encouraged to start using accredited judges from all the regions, not just their own, to start a cross pollination between the regions which will ultimately benefit club members by having diverse, but consistent, appraisal of their images.

The national judges have been grouped into their regions and if any of the judges’ details need updating please contact your regional director, who will then update the regional list and send it through to be updated on the national list. If further information is required you can contact Alan Nixon via email.

Note: A national speakers list is busy being updated and will be published in the near future.