One of the year’s biggest underwater photography competitions, the 11th annual Ocean Art contest, has opened for entries – and organiser the Underwater Photography Guide (UPG) says that the 2022 event’s prize value of more than US $100,000 makes it the most valuable it has ever offered.
The competition offers 14 categories for entries, including a new one for divers capturing images on their mobile phones. UPG says its approach is designed to ensure a level playing field for all photo disciplines and cameras, and expects the 50-plus winning images from amateur and professional photographers to form a portfolio of the year’s best.
Winners are chosen by a judging panel made up of underwater photographers Tony Wu, Marty Snyderman, Mark Strickland and UPG’s Scott Gietler.
Prizes are provided by sponsors including liveaboard operators, dive resorts and underwater photo-gear brands. A number of the “Grand Prizes” involve scuba-diving holidays in Indonesia, including Coralia, Dive Damai, Oceanic and Ondina liveaboard trips and stays at the Kri Eco and Meridian Adventure resorts in Raja Ampat and White Sands Beach resort in Lembeh.
Other Grand Prizes include liveaboard trips to Cuba (Avalon Outdoor), the Maldives (Carpe Novo), Malpelo (Ferox) and Socorro (Solmar V) and stays at Magic Oceans in the Philippines and PNG’s Walindi Plantation Resort. There are also many “premium” prizes, and winners from each category are able to rank their preferred rewards. Full details can be found on the Ocean Art competition page.
The Wide Angle, Macro and Marine Life Behaviour categories each have three corresponding Compact Camera categories.
The others are Black & White, Marine Life Portrait, Cold/Temperate Water, Blackwater, Underwater Conservation, Nudibranchs, Mobile Phone and Underwater Art, which encourages creativity in post-processing.
Entry fee is $10 per photo, and submissions must arrive no later than 30 November this year.
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