I received the Kodak Award of Distinction for this print which scored a 93, the highest in it's category.
Why Compete?
Wouldn't it be great to compete in the Olympics, World Series, World Cup, Super Bowl, The Masters, Wimbledon? What a privilege it is to compete against the world's best. To give it your best and see where you stack up. This is exactly the reason why I think everyone who is into photography should submit their prints into the WPPI print and album competitions. There is tremendous, nerve racking tension when you submit your prints to be scored. You are exposing yourself for all the world to see- images you think are your best. Your soul is on display and you feel like your standing in front of a judging panel with only your underwear on. For all those that have entered, we know the act of submitting a print is a tremendous accomplishment in itself! But once you expose yourself, it gets easier and easier.
It was truly an honor to receive 15 awards of excellence at this years WPPI competition and on top of that, I also received the prestigious Kodak Award of Distinction. To be recognized by your peers is truly an honor. I want to publicly thank WPPI and all the judges for all their hard work and sacrifice- giving two days of their life scoring all the prints. I thought they did a tremendous job. In a brief moment of complete stupidity, I was critical of the judging process and I stated some things out of complete ignorance because I didn't understand the judging process. So I want to apologize to all who may have caught wind of my negative statements and I want all to know that I whole-heartedly support all WPPI competitions and feel that it is a privilege to be able to compete.
I also accomplished a life long goal which was to achieve the Accolade of Photographic Mastery from WPPI. Few people achieve this award because it is the accumulation of 20 points or award winning prints receiving a score of 80 or above which is an Accolade of Excellence which is really hard to do. I say a person scoring 78s could earn a great, full-time living with photography! The APM usually takes years to accomplish. For example, the first year I competed, I submitted 14 prints and scored 80 and above on 3 prints, not one scoring above an 82. This year I scored 80 and above on a little over half my submissions which may never happen to me again, so I feel extremely honored, especially when people where saying this year's judging was extremely tough. My original goal was to get five over 80. So even with 15 points this year, it still took me 3-4 years to get my APM so I am very proud of this accomplishment. I am a college drop out and never received my college degree, it was important for me as an educator to be dedicated to a process that took several years to accomplish- just like earning a degree or even harder. I wanted to be a good example of persistence and commitment to excellence over the span of several years.
WPPI is a tremendous event and it is crazy walking around with 13,000 photographers and getting to listen and hear some amazing world famous photographers like Jerry Ghionis, David Jay, Ron Dawson (videographer), Matthew Jordan Smith and Yervant. I also wish I could have heard Jim Garner speak too but I had a scheduling conflict. That is the problem sometimes, you can never hear everyone! David Jay and I are doing a workshop in September, we are still trying to figure out where we want to go- any suggestions?
I will make a separate post about my VEGAS workshop which was so much fun- just waiting for more images from my students so I can show them off! Hurry up people!!
Part of the joy of competing in a world wide competition and doing well is having the confidence of knowing that you can go toe to toe with the best, a reward that only comes by competing against the best. Below are my award winning prints- click to enlarge.
Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 9:48AM 
[Scott Robert Lim]
