The GCC Board voted last fall to approve the club’s participation in the 2009 Glennie Nature Interclub Exhibition that was being sponsored by the Merrimack Valley Camera Club in North Andover, MA.   A full description of this prestigious exhibition was provided on page 6 of the November 2008 edition of The Cable Release. 

Our club participated for the first time last year and ranked 14th out of some 52 participating camera clubs.  Our own Tom Statas earned the Bronze Medal Award for his leopard entry.   The challenge this year was to do better --- and I think we did!

The results are in and the number of participating camera clubs this year swelled to 95 (up from 52 camera clubs last year). Participating clubs this year were from as far away as the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada as well as from Maine to Florida.  Cubs from Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee and Texas were also represented.  We had 11 club members contribute 36 images from which we had to pare that number down to 10 images. The images submitted were evaluated on a point system by the Merrimack Valley Camera Club judges where the maximum score for an image was 27 points.  With 10 images per club the maximum club score was 270.  No club reached that score.  The highest club score was 231 points (23.1 points average per image) and the lowest club score was 159 (15.9 points per image).  We came in with a club score of 210 (21.0 points average per image), and that placed us 13th, including ties, from the top.  I think a placement of 13th out of 95 competing international clubs is pretty good!

The club members selected to represent the GCC were: Larry Dean, Debbie Gillham, Judy MacArthur, George Haney, Don Johnson Barbara Statas and Tom Statas. In addition to our club placement, we had the Green Frog image from Larry Dean selected for a Merit Award in the Amphibian Category, and the Butterfly image from Barbara Statas selected for the Best Butterfly Award in the Butterfly Category.  These two images have been placed on the 2009 Glennie Nature Interclub Exhibition web site. Please visit the site to view these and other winning images from this prestigious exhibition."

The only other club participating from Maryland was the National Institutes of Health Camera Club with a score of 207 and a 16th placement rank. There were two participating camera clubs from Virginia -- the Northern Virginia Photographic Society and the Virginia Photography Society.  The NVPS earned a score of 200 and placement rank of 23, while the VPS earned a score of 197 and a placement rank of 27.