The Bird Competition: Oct. 24, 2023

  • 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023
  • Congregation Shearith Israel, 9401 Douglas Ave., Dallas, Texas. View a map. (No Zoom.)
  • Annual Print and Digital Image Competition, Fort Worth Camera Club versus Dallas Camera Club

Members of both clubs are invited to watch judges review images and prints from Dallas and Fort Worth in our annual contest. Judges will review and score 15 digital images and 15 prints from each club. The club that receives the most points wins. Fort Worth Camera Club won in 2022.

The Emily Guthrie Smith Award, affectionately referred to as The Bird Competition, has been held each year since 1964, except 1975 and 2016. The competition is held in October or early November and the location rotated between the clubs each year. Fort Worth Camera Club has won every year since 2007.

The Competition committee elects Fort Worth entries submitted by club members. Judges are not current club members and have no information about the photographer or his/her club membership.

Images by these members are in the 2023 competition:

FWCC Bird Competition Entries 2023Download

History

EmilyGuthrieSmithSignature

Despite the name, the contest is not about bird photography. The competition began when Emily Guthrie Smith suggested that an annual contest would be fun for both clubs. Smith was a Fort Worth native and nationally known artist and teacher. Her works are in private collections, museums and the Archives of American Artists in the Smithsonian Institution.

She donated and carved the trophy, above, a wood sculpture engraved with the winning club’s name, but the reason she chose a bird is not known. The trophy is regularly perched on the podium at our club meetings.

Bird image courtesy of Dallas Camera Club. History courtesy of Fort Worth Camera Club Lifetime Members Robert Chura and Becky Scott.