All camera clubs in the UK are affiliated to the PAGB through their association/federation. To qualify for any of these awards you will need to show that you have supported the PAGB over a period of time by entering PAGB sponsored federation/association events, exhibitions, inter-club etc and a form needs to be obtained from the your PAGB Awards Officer and then given to your club chairman to sign and confirm that you have supported the PAGB.
The adjudications are made twice a year and spread around the federations. My venue was at Copythorne Village Hall, Nr Tatton, Southampton, run by the Southern Federation.  The next adjudication is in Newcastle in late November.
The adjudications are booked up well in advance. I sent my application form in October 2007 and it was nearly full then for the following April, 2008. There is an entry fee, £50 for CPAGB, £60 for DPAGB and £65 for MPAGB. If your submission fails you can apply again for an additional £35.  The distinction is held for life.  All these are one off payments. You get a free attendance ticket for the day and can ask for another if space is available. It is assumed that your printing and mounting will be at a high standard for any prints submitted.  No excuses will be accepted.

The various classes for a distinction are:  Credit Distinction and Master.

• CPAGB   10 prints, or slides/digital images, or AV sequences that in the opinions of the adjudicators would be successful in club and inter-club competitions.
• DPAGB  15 prints or slides/digital images, or AV sequences that in the opinion of the adjudicators would receive a high level of acceptance in Open Exhibitions
• MPAGB   20 prints or slides/digital images, or AV sequences that in the opinion of the adjudicators would enjoy a considerable level of success at International Exhibitions including consistent and frequent acceptances.

All the images are shown individually unlike the RPS as a panel. There are six adjudicators appointed who score by a silent scoring method.  An officer appointed by the PAGB announces the total score for each entry. AV sequences are judged in a different way by 3 adjudicators who view all of an entrant’s submission consecutively, marking between 2-5 then scored as a whole.  Only the total score is announced.  The AV adjudications are only held in March each year.Each adjudicator gives between 2-5 points for an entry.  2 points indicates that the entry is below the required standard. 4 points indicates it is well up to the required standard.  3 points are given when the adjudicator feels that the entry is borderline.  5 points are rarely given, as the entry would have to be exceptional.

• For CPAGB a minimum of 200 points are required for the award.
• For DPAGB a minimum of 300 points are required for the award.
• For MPAGB a minimum of 400 points are required for the award.

Depending on the number of successful entrants the Non Voting Chairman of the adjudicating Panel will sometimes ask the panel to reconsider some of the entrants work again should they get to say 5 points short of the required amount. On the day the entrant’s work is shown in “rounds” i.e. your first entry is shown in round I, second entry in round 2.  There were 36 entrants for the prints section on the day my prints were judged so each round consisted of 36 prints. The prints were placed on a print easel and lit by a slide projector lamp.
The six adjudicators sit in front of the print, which is shown for about two minutes, and the score is announced.  Sometimes an adjudicator asks to see a print close up and this is usually passed along the panel.  This does not always mean you will be given a good or bad mark.  If your print receives 20 points then you know that is a “pass” average.  However, on the day the marks vary. For me, my first two prints received 17 and 19 points, but then I received scores of over 20 and also a few more under 20 points.  In the end I had a total of 302 points so I had just made it!
Having been persuaded to enter for the Distinction award before getting the Credit award first I thought I might just about make it but didn’t realise quite how high the standard would be.  It was suggested by some friends that I just enter my ARPS panel but I thought there could be some weak ones among them, as the panel would be judged on an individual basis. So I replaced them with others. 14 of my 15 entries had been accepted either as Digital or Slide entries in Open exhibitions so I reprinted these for my submission.
The slide section only had 8 entrants; hence the change in 2009 to digital replacing slides.  The entrant I was sitting next to achieved a total of 342 points with some truly stunning slides, and most of them were genuine slides not digital files written to film stock.
Overall of the 44 entrants 12 received the DPAGB award so you can see that the standard is quite high.  The PAGB keep one of your prints or slides/digital images for a year to be shown prior to the commencement of the adjudication in a sample panel to give the entrant’s an idea of the standard required.  Your best scoring image is not the one chosen but one that has received 20-22 points usually.  After seeing the sample panels a lot of us thought we would write the day off to experience!

Some afterthoughts: 

• Competitive photography has its periods of likes and dislikes.  It appears that mount board named Antique White is a favourite at the moment for colour prints and Ice White for B & W prints.  Black is a definite no no.  All mounts should be no larger than 50mm x 40mm.  The photos within should not be as large as you can make them but from 12”-14” on the longest side or A4 size. 
• If you intend putting a white border around your digital entry to separate it from the black background do not make it wider than 3 pixels.  White is the colour favoured or a complimentary colour from the photo works well.  Do not use any other colour than black for your background some judges feel you are trying to give it the appearance of a print and don’t like it.
• I expect that some new ideas will come along to replace the current ones so it is a good idea to enter or visit exhibitions and competitions to keep up with the latest trends.
• Choose images that have some lasting impact, as they are not shown for very long.
• Natural History subjects scored very well.
• Landscapes had to be really good to score well, likewise Portraits.
• Architecture scored reasonably well but do not include too many record shots.
• Attend any workshops and get feedback on your proposed entries.

Finally, I would be willing to help, you only have to ask.