The PPA Photographic Competition is a main event for almost 6,000 photographers from the USA as well as many other countries. It is an annual event that allows one to enter up to 4 images in two cases - Open and Artist. The Dahlia above was one of my 4 in my Open case, which is judged by 5 accredited jurors. It was first judged to be in the excellent category, which meant that it qualified for a second round with jurors (a different panel) to be judged for acceptance into this year's Loan Collection. I'm very pleased to say it was accepted! Loan Collection images are published each year in the PPA Loan Collection book. I am also proud to say that the other three images included in my Open case as well as the four images I submitted in my Artist case were judged worthy of a merit. They will all be on exhibit in Nashville, TN in January, 2018 during the PPA conference, ImagingUSA. I will also be awarded a Silver and a Bronze medal for this year's competition.