Have you ever received a Merit from PPI and then wondered what you were going to do with that Merit or what it meant exactly? Well, we have wondered that very same thing. So, we got the answer from our very own Dennis Hammon. He is one of Idaho's local Amazing photographers who is full of knowledge regarding print competitions. He has been for many years, and continues to be, a judge at various local, regional and national competitions. Here is what Dennis has to say about Merits:
Each State or District (formally Regionals) offer their own "merit and degree"program
Idaho has it's Fellow Degree. And performing service and speaking and judging within the state can get you "State Merits" towards your State Fellowship Degree.
Typically Merits received from Idaho go towards the Fellow of Idaho Degree, they are not credited towards any PPA Degrees.
If You judge or speak at a state or regional or National Program, You do receive Merits of Service from PPA towards your Craftsman or Masters Degree (If you are a member of PPA).
Print merits for PPA degrees are earned when you enter prints into PPA competition and receive 80 or above and you receive 1 (one) print merit. Once all prints are judged they are then re-judged for LOAN. Any image that is selected for LOAN receive an additional merit for that image. Many people typically enter the state first to test the waters of a print. Then a regional competetion. If a print receives a score of 80 or better, at a regional, it is call "pre-hung" Or "pre-merited". You MUST submitted that print with the seal on the back at the next PPA print exhibiton to actually receive your print merit. If pre-merited at a regional, it is not re-judged to hang at Nationals,, but automatically goes to the Loan panel to be judged. These prints that merit here are displayed at the next National IMagaing Convention.
To receive your PPA Masters Degree you need 25 PPA merits . Of the 25 merits you need at least 13 PRINT merits from PPA and 12 additional Merits that are from speaking , judging or more print merits with PPA merits. With the Masters Degree you get a Yellow Ribbon.
To receive your PPA Craftsman Degree you need another 25 merits. Of those 25 merits, 13 Merits have to be from the Platform speaking and have received PPA merits for speaking, the additional 12 merits can come from more speaking, judging or print Merits.With the Craftsman Degree you receive a Blue Ribbon. A combination of master and craftsman is a yellow/blue ribbon.
After you receive your degrees, each additional 25 merits you receive a gold bar to place on your ribbon. After you receive an addtional 50 print merits (besides the ones for your master's degree ) you can receive a bronze bar to place on your ribbon.
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