The winners of the Israel-based World Shootout 2021 underwater photo and video competition have been announced at a virtual awards ceremony.
First, second- and third-placed winners in each of 12 categories were revealed, with the organisers reporting that thousands of entries had been received from photographers in 54 countries.
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German scuba divers scored highly, but for the second year in a row coronavirus prevented the live presentation of the awards at Germany’s annual boot watersports show in Dusseldorf. However, that event’s organiser, Petros Michelidakis, selected the Best of the Year (above) from among the winners.
That honour went to Australian underwater photographer Hannah le Leu for her shot of a baby sea turtle, which was also runner-up in the Wide Angle category.
Again because of the Covid pandemic and its effects on dive-travel, the competition’s previous rules that submissions must be shots taken in the past year had been relaxed. This allowed participants to enter older photographs to fit a theme of “The Pictures of Your Life” – which is why some entries might seem familiar to competition-watchers.
The winners were selected from the shortlisted entries by a five-man jury, with three other judges concentrating on the Video Clips category.
Since the World Shootout started in Eilat in 2005 more than US $1 million in prizes, including $267,000 in cash, has gone to winners, say organisers David Pilosof and Sharon Rainis Shoval, who conducted the online presentation. It can be seen here.
Outright winners in the still categories can be seen below:
Amateurs winner: Enrico Somogyi (Germany), who also took second place in this category – he also won in the Macro category (right)
There was also a Global Championships win for a team of Italian photographers: Pietro Cremone, Marcello Di Francesco and Massimo Zannini, while the winning Video Clip, taken by Alfred Schaschi of Austria, can be seen here. See other nominated and placed entries on the website or order the printed album. Registration for the 2022 competition opens in April.
