Photo Competition Manager
Complete photography club competition platform. Handle submissions, member voting, public voting, email notifications, and beautiful results displays.
Consider an alternative
Photo Competition Manager shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. Is rated 5/5 and was last updated 8 months ago, and scores 32/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (<10 active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- Only tested up to WordPress 6.9 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Photo Competition Manager stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| competitions | #55 |
| member management | >100 |
| photography | >100 |
| shortcodes | >100 |
| voting | #76 |
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
About Photo Competition Manager
From the official readme · v0.3.0Description
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.
Frequently asked questions
How do members submit their photos?
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.
Can I customize the voting system?
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?
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.
Can I customize categories and grades per competition?
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.
What if someone loses their magic link or voting token?
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.
Can I hide member names in the results?
Yes. The “competition_results” shortcode has an optional “hide_names” parameter. Set that to 1 to hide the names.
Does it work on mobile devices?
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.
Where do uploaded images get stored?
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?
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
Changelog
Fixes a fatal error on plugin activation. Share competition results with committee members or all members via a secret link before making results public.
0.3.0
- Fix fatal error on activation due to missing Admin_Dependencies class in release package
- Results Sharing — Share competition results via a secret link before making them public
- New “Generate Results Link” action on the Competitions page
- “Send to Committee” and “Send to All Members” buttons on the Results Dashboard
- Share link bypasses results visibility and resolves to the correct competition
- Committee Members — Mark members as committee via admin or CSV import
- Confirmation dialogs on hash regeneration and email sending to prevent accidental actions
0.2.0
-
Voting Controls Redesign
- Streamlined voting controls page with improved layout
- Added focus panel for managing individual categories
- Clear “Voting is Open/Closed” status headings
- Extended slideshow duration options (5s to 30s) with 20s default
-
Member Management
- New toggle button on Members page to enable/disable uploads
-
Results & Scoring
- Proper tie handling in admin results and scoring calculations
- Scores now stored as totals per category for accuracy
- Grades displayed in results emails and thumbnails
-
Exports
- Improved vote and uploader exports with category separation
- Aligned export columns across categories for better spreadsheet compatibility
-
Email
- Site name now prefixed to all email subjects for clarity
-
Bug Fixes
- Delete associated votes when deleting an image
- Normalized all times to UTC
- Proper cleanup of physical files and attachment posts on deletion
-
Compatibility
- Tested up to WordPress 6.9
0.1.0
-
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
-
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
-
Email System
- Automated upload confirmations
- Voting invitation emails with tokens
- Results announcement notifications
- Customizable templates with merge tags
- Template enable/disable controls
-
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
-
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
For developers
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Best Photo Competition Manager alternatives
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FAQ
Photo Competition Manager: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 4, 2026
Is Photo Competition Manager free?
Yes. Photo Competition Manager is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Photo Competition Manager safe to use in 2026?
Photo Competition Manager shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. Is rated 5/5 and was last updated 8 months ago, and scores 32/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Photo Competition Manager?
Photo Competition Manager is active on <10 WordPress websites and has been downloaded 621 times since it launched in December 2025. It was downloaded 56 times in the last 30 days.
Does Photo Competition Manager work with WordPress 7.1?
Photo Competition Manager is officially tested up to WordPress 6.9.9, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
What PHP version does Photo Competition Manager need?
Photo Competition Manager requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was Photo Competition Manager last updated?
The latest version, 0.3.0, was released on February 20, 2026 (8 months ago).
Who makes Photo Competition Manager?
Photo Competition Manager is developed and maintained by Donncha O Caoimh (a11n).
What are the best alternatives to Photo Competition Manager?
The most popular alternatives to Photo Competition Manager are Subbub (<10 installs), Celia for WooCommerce (<10 installs) and LuckyFlow (<10 installs).
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