Everything you need to know about tracking your British Photographic Exhibitions (BPE) entries — from adding your first exhibition and logging acceptances through to exporting the matrix spreadsheet the BPE crown application form expects.
New to BPE? BPE is a group of nationally-recognised UK photographic exhibitions ("salons") that award crown-level distinctions (BPE1★ through BPE5★) based on the number of accepted images you accumulate across the circuit. Exhibition Tracker keeps a per-image ledger so you always know exactly where you stand.
Looking for the international FIAP salon workflow instead? See the FIAP FAQ →
BPE stands for the British Photographic Exhibitions circuit — a group of nationally-recognised UK photographic exhibitions ("salons") that award BPE crown distinctions based on the number of accepted images you accumulate. Each BPE exhibition is judged independently, and every acceptance you earn counts towards your BPE crown ranking.
BPE tracks the total number of accepted images ("acceptances") you have across all BPE-recognised exhibitions. Crown levels are awarded at fixed milestones (BPE1★ at 25 acceptances, BPE2★ at 50, BPE3★ at 100, BPE4★ at 200, BPE5★ at 400). Each accepted image counts once — separate sections in the same salon each count as a distinct acceptance.
The tracker maintains the official BPE list: Clay Cross National, Southport National, Vale of Evesham, Basingstoke Camera Club, South Birmingham, Robin Hood Open, Neath & District, Rushden Open, Winchester National, Beyond Group, Dingwall National, Shrewsbury Open, Midland Monochrome, Frome Salon and Great Western Exhibition. Adding a new exhibition automatically picks from this list.
Click the '+ Add Exhibition' button in the controls bar. Pick the exhibition from the dropdown and set the year. Only one entry per exhibition per year is allowed — repeat years are prevented so your acceptance counts stay clean.
Click the '+' icon in the Actions column of the exhibition. This opens the Add Acceptance dialog where you enter the image title, choose a section, and optionally assign an award. You can add as many acceptances per exhibition per year as you need.
Click directly on the exhibition name in the table — it turns into an editable input. Type the new name and press Enter to save, or Escape to cancel. Years are edited the same way. Editing does not affect the underlying acceptances attached to that exhibition.
Sections categorise your image submissions to match how each exhibition organises its judging. The built-in options are CPDI (Colour), MPDI (Monochrome), NPDI (Nature), CPDI (Creative), SPDI (Scapes), PPDI (Portrait), PEPDI (People), OPDI (Open), VPDI (Visual Art), CP (Colour Print) and MP (Mono Print). You can also add your own custom section names — they persist to your account.
Click the acceptances count for an exhibition to expand the row. Each accepted image has its own inline Section and Award dropdowns — change them directly and the update saves automatically. This makes correcting a mis-categorised image a one-click job.
Awards recognised in the tracker include Gold Medal, Silver Medal, Bronze Medal, HC (Honourable Commendation), Selector and Ribbon. Awards appear as small badges in the exhibition table and in the Year Summary cards. They also feed into image ranking, so awarded images bubble up in the Top Ranked Images list.
The Export CSV downloads a flat CSV listing your exhibitions by year (newest first) with the exhibition name, year, acceptance count, and image titles spread across the trailing columns. Ideal for opening in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets for further analysis.
The Apply button downloads a per-acceptance CSV with columns Exhibition, Year, Section, Acceptance, and Image Name. Rows run oldest to newest with a total at the bottom. Use this when submitting BPE crown applications, since the format matches what the BPE application form expects.
Summary downloads a matrix-style Excel (.xlsx) file — exhibitions run across the top, years run down the left. Each cell lists the image titles accepted at that exhibition in that year, giving you a spreadsheet-friendly overview of your entire history at a glance.
Tick the checkboxes on the left of the exhibition rows. Once any box is ticked, the Export, Apply and Summary buttons show a count and only include the selected exhibitions. Click 'Clear' to deselect and return to exporting everything.
Click 'Import CSV' and upload a CSV file. The importer automatically matches your exhibition names to the official BPE list — even if you've abbreviated them ('Claycross' matches 'Clay Cross National'). Duplicate rows are skipped automatically and the dialog shows a summary of what was imported and any unmatched rows.
The importer uses fuzzy matching against the official BPE list. If none of the strategies (exact, contains, first-word, word-overlap) can match your CSV name to a known exhibition, that row is skipped and reported as an error. Rename the CSV row to something closer to the official name and re-import.
Images are ranked by (1) how many times they've been accepted across exhibitions, (2) whether they're marked as your 'best image', and (3) how many awards they've received. The Top Ranked Images card on the dashboard surfaces your highest-performing photographs so you know which ones to keep entering.
Expand an exhibition row and tick the checkbox next to the image title. Best images render in red in the table and score higher in the ranking algorithm. Marking your strongest work as best gives the ranking engine a strong signal.
Click the chart icon in the top header (or 'View Statistics' in the Year Summary card). Statistics show acceptance trends by year, distribution across sections, and your top-performing images — all filterable by exhibition. Useful for seeing your progress toward the next crown level.
Exhibitions are always displayed in the official BPE order (Clay Cross → Great Western). Within each exhibition, years sort with the most recent first. This fixed ordering matches how the BPE circuit itself lists its member salons.
The BPE tracker is intentionally limited to the official BPE circuit so acceptance counts remain BPE-valid. For FIAP-patronaged salons and other international exhibitions, use the dedicated FIAP tracker — it has its own dashboard, salon auto-fill and export format.
Yes. Every account sees only its own exhibitions, acceptances and images. No other user can view or export your data — the app enforces per-user data isolation at the API level.
Yes — the interface is fully responsive. The table becomes horizontally scrollable on narrow screens, and all controls (edit, export, add) work with touch. That said, for bulk data entry and CSV imports a desktop or laptop is more comfortable.
Yes — creating an account is free. Verify your email, choose the BPE or FIAP tracker, and start logging. No card required, and no per-exhibition or per-acceptance limits.
Can't find your question? Sign in and drop a note — or head to the FIAP FAQ if your question is about international salons.