Description
Photo Competition Manager provides everything photography clubs need to run professional competitions online:
Core Features
- Member Management – Maintain active rosters, assign grades, track member status, and bulk import/update via CSV
- Competition Setup – Create competitions with custom categories, grade divisions, submission quotas, and scoring matrices
- Secure Submissions – Members upload via magic-link authentication with automatic file validation, resizing, and quota enforcement
- Flexible Voting – Token-based member voting, password-protected public voting, and full-screen slideshow mode for in-person club nights
- Results Display – Full results tables with filtering, responsive top-3 podium displays, and customizable member name visibility
- Email Notifications – Automated emails for upload confirmations, voting invitations, results announcements, and custom templates with merge tags
- Setup Wizard – One-click page creation for upload, voting, results, and top-3 displays with pre-configured shortcodes
Advanced Capabilities
- Voting Controls – Open/close voting by category, manage voter tokens, track submission and voting status per competition
- Results Analytics – View score distributions, voting participation, and competition statistics from the admin dashboard
- Export Tools – Export competition results, voting data, and member lists to CSV for archiving or external reporting
- Repository Pattern – All data stored in dedicated database tables for performance, portability, and clean separation from WordPress content
Five Shortcodes, Unlimited Possibilities
[competition_upload]– Member upload form with quota tracking[competition_voting]– Interactive voting interface with live validation[competition_slideshow]– Full-screen presentation mode for club meetings[competition_results]– Complete results table with grade and category filtering[competition_top3]– Responsive podium display showcasing winners
Perfect for photography clubs, camera clubs, photo societies, and any organization running regular image competitions.
Installation
Quick Start
- Install via the Plugins screen on your WordPress site.
- Activate the plugin through Plugins Installed Plugins
- Navigate to Competitions Setup Wizard to auto-create pages with shortcodes
- Go to Competitions Settings to configure default categories, grades, and scoring
- Add your members via Competitions Members (supports bulk CSV import)
- Create your first competition and start accepting submissions!
Manual Page Setup
If you prefer manual control, create pages with these shortcodes:
[competition_upload]– Member submission form[competition_voting]– Voting interface (token-based or password-protected)[competition_slideshow]– Full-screen slideshow for in-person voting[competition_results]– Complete results table[competition_top3]– Podium-style top 3 display
Shortcode Attributes
competition="slug"– Target a specific competition (all shortcodes)category="slug"– Filter by category (voting and slideshow only)
Building From Source
This plugin includes compiled JavaScript and CSS assets. The complete source code is available on GitHub:
https://github.com/donnchawp/photo-competition-manager
Source files are located in the assets/src/ directory. To build the assets:
- Navigate to the assets directory:
cd assets - Install dependencies:
npm install - For development (watch mode):
npm run dev - For production build:
npm run build
The plugin uses @wordpress/scripts for building and bundling assets. All source code can be reviewed, modified, and rebuilt from the repository.
Local Development
Run make up to launch the WordPress environment with Mailpit email capture at http://localhost:8026.
FAQ
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How do members submit their photos?
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Members receive a magic-link email with a unique upload URL. No passwords or login required. They simply click the link, select their category, and upload their images. The system automatically validates file types, dimensions, and enforces submission quotas.
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Can I customize the voting system?
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Yes! Choose between three voting modes:
1. Token-based – Each member gets a unique voting link via email
2. Password-protected – Share a single password with all voters
3. Slideshow mode – Full-screen presentation for in-person voting at club meetings -
How do email notifications work?
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The plugin sends automated emails for key events:
* Upload confirmations when members submit images
* Voting invitations with unique links or passwords
* Results announcements when competition closes
* Custom templates with merge tags (member names, competition titles, links, etc.)Configure and customize all templates from Competitions Email Templates.
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Can I customize categories and grades per competition?
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Absolutely. Set default categories, grades, quotas, and scoring matrices in Competitions Settings. Each competition can override these defaults via its Settings tab without affecting future competitions.
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What if someone loses their magic link or voting token?
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For uploads: Regenerate the member’s upload link from Competitions Members Edit Member “Send Upload Link”
For voting: From Competitions Voting Controls, close and reopen the voting category to generate fresh token links for all members.
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Can I hide member names in the results?
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Yes. The “competition_results” shortcode has an optional “hide_names” parameter. Set that to 1 to hide the names.
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Does it work on mobile devices?
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Yes! All shortcodes are fully responsive and tested on mobile devices. The top-3 podium display, voting interface, and upload forms adapt beautifully to small screens.
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Where do uploaded images get stored?
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Images are stored in
/wp-content/uploads/competitions/{competition-slug}/{category-slug}/. The plugin automatically creates thumbnails and validates uploads. All paths are secure and inaccessible without proper authentication. -
Can I export competition data?
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Yes. Visit Competitions Export to download:
* Full competition results (CSV)
* Voting data and statistics (CSV)
* Member lists (CSV)
* All exports include timestamps and are formatted for Excel/Google Sheets
Reviews
Contributors & Developers
“Photo Competition Manager” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “Photo Competition Manager” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
0.1.0
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Core Features
- Member management with CSV bulk import/export
- Competition creation with custom categories, grades, and scoring
- Magic-link authentication for secure member uploads
- Three voting modes: token-based, password-protected, and slideshow
- Full results tables and responsive top-3 podium displays
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Admin Interface
- Setup wizard for automatic page creation
- Voting controls dashboard with category management
- Submission tracking and quota enforcement
- Results analytics and statistics
- CSV export for all competition data
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Email System
- Automated upload confirmations
- Voting invitation emails with tokens
- Results announcement notifications
- Customizable templates with merge tags
- Template enable/disable controls
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Frontend Shortcodes
[competition_upload]– Member submission form[competition_voting]– Interactive voting interface[competition_slideshow]– Full-screen presentation mode[competition_results]– Complete results table[competition_top3]– Responsive podium display
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Technical
- Repository pattern with dedicated database tables
- Automatic image resizing and thumbnail generation
- Mobile-responsive frontend styles
- WordPress coding standards compliance
- PHPUnit test coverage for core functionality