Image Competition Manager
The Image Competition Manager is a program designed to assisted in preparing and managing images shared in an exhibition or competition. Digital and traditional slide images can be used in a mixed environment or managed separately. Management of the competitions includes displaying competition entries, judging, displaying winners, and record keeping. The program has evolved since its 2005 introduction and now shares its images and data with your Photo Club Services website.
ICM runs only under Windows 2000 or later versions. It uses the latest technology from Microsoft to provide an attractive, easy to use interface. The program is simple to install and will notify you when there are updates.
Competitions may be created with the ICM program, but you will usually want to create them on your website in advance of a competition. Once created, members may submit entries to a competition using your website. Rules you have established for the competition will be enforced, such as pixel dimensions and number of entries.
Images may also be entered at the time of the competition. In this case, the image files are imported into the Image Competition Manager program.
If a competition was created on the website, you need to load the competition into your computer using the ICM program. Use the "Club" tree item and the "Import/Export" tab. This will transfer all new competition and membership information from your website to the ICM program.
During your competition new images may be entered, image titles may be altered, and judging results will be set.
Following a competition, you should again connect to the Internet and use the ICM program to send all of your updated competition data and images to the website. The results of the competition are displayed automatically, including the winning images.
If used within a club environment, this program can be used to feed winning entries to a regional group or council. All of the information associated with each image is maintained, eliminating any duplicate work.
Although unlikely, if you change information on both the website and with the ICM program, the website update will be the one retained. The website contains all competitions, but you may choose to download only a subset to the ICM program.
