The three-way battle between the three photographic clubs on the island is one of the highlight features of the year for all of our various memberships and the only occasion we all appear at the same venue together in competition.

Each club submits 30 digital images for judging by an independent judge, each image to be scored out of a maximum of 20 points, and the club with the highest overall score winning a trophy that has been awarded for some 30 years.

Historically, the Isle of Man Photographic Society has won the trophy more times than any other, but it is always a case of swings and roundabouts, the trophy having been held by each of the current three participating clubs at various times, as well as several clubs which have since ceased to exist.

This year it was the turn of the Southern Club to host the occasion, the venue being the excellent choice of the Colby Football Club.

Our judge was Mike Radcliffe, a well-known local professional photographer, who acknowledged the difficulty of his task when faced with so many excellent images.

Given the random and non-sequential showing of the images, it took significant mathematical skills to know how each club was performing, but after 15 images each (and effectively the halfway stage), the Southern Society held a significant lead with 228 points, the Western in second place with 220 points and the Isle of Man Photographic Society trailing in third place with 217 points.

Mike was proving a judge difficult to please, with images typically scoring only 14 or 15 points - so images scoring either marks lower or much higher were making an enormous difference to the running totals and overall standings for each clubâ?¦. the tension was palpable at the break!

An early score of a rare 20 in the second half for Jeremy Broome-Smith with an image of an osprey in the moment of catching a beautiful trout, pulled back much of the deficit for the Isle of Man Photographic Society, while a run of 18s and 19s a little later saw the Isle of Man Photographic Society moving into a leading position.

The eventual outcome was a winning score of 458 points, the Western with a score of 442 points into second place and just behind on 440 points in third the Southern Society.

Jeremy’s image of the osprey also won the judge’s favour and the trophy as the "best image of the night".

Jeremy, as president of the IoMPS, gave the vote of thanks to both the judge and the Southern Society for their hard work in organising a very successful event.

The IoMPS is now on its Christmas break, with our next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 8.

The society meets at the Arts Society Building (Thie Ellyn) in Worthington Road, Douglas, on Wednesday evenings, all meetings starting at 7.30pm, and all open to the public (with a modest fee for non-members).

More details of the society and its programme can be found on our website at www.iomps.com.