Photographic competitions occur monthly and are focussed toward pre-selected categories and within three different member groups. Descriptions of our competitions can be found within our Competitions Page. Our competitions are a means for members to expand and improve their photographic art and stimulate discussion within our membership

Our most recent competiton was a "Man's Hand in Nature" competition. Man's Hand in Nature is a complementary competition to our regular Nature competition and requires evidence of human involvement and not the prohibition of it. This category allows inclusion of photographs that are not normally allowed in a strictly nature competition.

This competition was judged by Charlie Willard and, awards were presented on August 19, 2020.

There are three competition groups within Padre Trails Camera Club. Groups: AAA includes new members and those that are developing their skills. Group AA is an intermediate skills group, while Group A is the advanced group and comprised of members that have accumulated sufficient points from previous competitions.