The Underwater Photographer of the Year 2024 competition is now open for submissions and closes on January 5th, 2024.
The previous edition was won by Kat Zhou with her Amazonian dolphin photo “Boto Encantado.”
Judges Chair Alex Mustard said:
“The previous edition of UPY received our biggest ever entry, with 546 underwater photographers submitting almost 6000 photos. That’s a huge jump up from the 2500 images we received 10 years ago when this contest was re-born. The 2024 edition is the tenth UPY since this contest was relaunched, although UPY traces its roots back to 1965, when British photographer Phil Smith was named the first Underwater Photographer of the Year.”
To celebrate 10 years of the modern UPY, organizers are planning a standalone award ceremony in central London, an exhibition of the winners from across the 10 years of the competition, as well as their normal presentation of prints at the Go Diving Show in the UK and exhibitions in both the UK and overseas.
The competition has 13 categories with themes such as Macro, Wide Angle, Behavior, Wreck and Conservation photography, as well as four categories for photos taken specifically in British waters.
The contest incorporates a bespoke results system, providing feedback to the photographers on how far through the contest every single image has progressed, so every entrant benefits from taking part.
The judging panel consists of photographers Peter Rowlands, Tobias Friedrich and Alex Mustard who will meet in person to judge every image entered into UPY2024.
For more info, go to underwaterphotographeroftheyear.com.
(Featured Image credit: © Alvaro Herrero/UPY2023)
