The EFIAP Distinction

Posted by ciaran on March 22, 2012 in Blog, FIAP | 16 comments

The EFIAP Distinction (Excellence FIAP) is the second step on the FIAP distinction ladder, following on from the AFIAP. It is awarded to “photographic artists who, apart from having excellent techniques, have a significant number of their work often been accepted into many international salons under FIAP patronage” and I am delighted to say that I have achieved this award The EFIAP requires a photographer to have a pretty substantial body of work and to have been actively submitting that work to salons. Given the pretty substantial requirements for this distinction, it really is no mean feat to achieve it.

Rule 3.2 the candidate for this distinction must:

a) be a holder of an AFIAP distinction. An application for this distinction can be made 1 year after the award of the AFIAP distinction, based on the date of the diploma

I received my AFIAP in February last year

b) Have taken part with success in at least 30 different international salons under FIAP patronage in at least 15 different countries; a Circuit has to be considered a single salon

This is a HUGE increase on the AFIAP requirements. Even if a person were to submit to one salon every month, and assuming of course they were successful in each salon, it would take almost 3 years to reach the 30 salon mark. Plus, you also need to be very targeted in the salons you enter, ensuring you submit to ones in different countries, so as to ensure you are accepted in at least 15 countries. For my submission, I actually listed 34 salons across 23 countries. The reason for this is that any shots used for an EFIAP, can never be used for future FIAP distinctions, so as they’re effectively “used”, and as such I listed all the countries and salons they were accepted into, regardless of the fact that the additional acceptances, don’t really count.

I listed the following 34 salons

1. Smethwick    2007/109
2. Southampton    2008/001
3. Aqueducte    2008/012
4. Concurso    2008/086
5. Trierenberg  2008/038-041
6. Trofeo    2008/119
7. Mondial    2010/061
8. Vigex    2010/003
9. Malta 5th International    2010/075
10. Foto Grupo    2010/080
11. 2nd CPNO International    2010/108
12. 2nd Cape International Circuit     2010/013-015
13. Tallaght    2010/70
14. Photomedia 2010    2010/383
15. Swansea    2010/148
16. Finland Circuit     2010/121-124
17. Zajecar    2010/158
18. Exposed    2010/155
19. Welsh International    2010/162
20. Arizona    2011/011
21. Maitland    2011/001
22. Reideshiem    2011/020
23. Reflet Mondial    2011/003
24. Photoclub 202 – Portrait    2011/021
25. Photoclub Bor    2011/049
26. GBSPC    2011/012-015
27. Gran Tour Delle Colline    2011/024-027
28. Bristol Salon    2011/007
29. Trierenberg     2011/32-35
30. Artic Exhibition    2011/009
31. Grand Digital Circuit     2011/076-079
32. German Photocup     2011/057-059
33. Photovacation    2011/096
34. Cacak    2011/093

This gave me acceptances in

1. England
2. Spain
3. Austria
4. Ireland
5. Luxembourg
6. Australia
7. Malta
8. Argentina
9. China
10. South Africa
11. Macedonia
12. Wales
13. Finland
14. Serbia
15. Slovenia
16. USA
17. France
18. Belgium
19. Italy
20. Norway
21. India
22. Germany
23. Bulgaria

c) Have obtained at least 150 acceptances with at least 50 different works in international salons under FIAP Patronage

Another huge jump in the requirements from the AFIAP To reach this target, I was again quite strategic in that I rarely entered the same image into more than one salon. Once it had gained an acceptance, I filed it away and moved on to the next image and the next salon. There were of course exceptions to this rule, but by and large this is how I approached my submissions. In the end I listed 50 different works totalling 160 acceptances. The images below are the 50 different images which made up my EFIAP distinction. For a detailed break down of the acceptances that each image received and where, you can check out my EFIAP gallery.

Rule 3.3 b) The candidate must

submit not less than 5 and not more than 10 photographic works of the candidate (black and white prints, colour prints or a mixture). All the submitted works must have obtained FIAP recognised acceptances

I submitted the following prints:

The Full Detailed Gallery

If you are so inclined, you can see the gallery containing all 50 images as well as the details of each of the acceptances they received, over in my distinctions gallery.

The Slate Is Now Wiped Clean

Where as the AFIAP and EFIAP can share images (i.e. the same image or images can be used for both distinctions), the slate is now wiped clean. These images can never be used in any future FIAP distinction process – they’re effectively “used up”. So it’s onwards and upwards from here, on towards the EFIAP Bronze and the rest of the EFIAP levels.