Winners of the Underwater Festival Announced
Our friends at Underwater Australasia have announced the winners of the Underwater Festival- The Australasia Challenge photo competition.
This region-wide competition featured more than a dozen categories in both still and video and produced some great results. We received a detailed report of the entire event by our friend Tim Hochgrebe at Underwater Australasia. Enjoy!
The Concept
We are all aware of the impact of digital photography, the internet and especially social media on our daily lives. These 'advances' in technology have really had a huge impact on diving as well. Underwater Photography has became cheaper and easier to do and a lot easier to share.
It was with that in mind that the 5th installment of the annual Underwater Festival was taken to a new dimension. We gave participants 10 days to shoot, but they could participate anywhere in 25 countries that we defined as the Australasia Region.
From the 2nd to the 11th of September 2011, hundr eds of divers from all around the world participated in this 'underwater snapshot of Australasia' in all kinds of ways. They dived their way from Sydney to Cairns in 10 days, circumnavigated Bali, showed off their favourite 'own backyard' dive sites, travelled long distances to participate in one of the organised Fringe Events or created their own. The top 100 images and top 10 videos were exhibited in the Underwater Festival Hall during ODEX.
Over $150,000 in prizes were won in 14 Photo Categories and 5 Video Categories which makes this to our knowledge the richest event in underwater imaging on the planet.
Not unlike an underwater 'Earth Hour' we want to help to highlight the underwater beauty but also the underwater issues of this fantastic bioregion and help to show the world what we've got to lose.
Underwater Festival Awards
Some of the worlds most recognised underwater photographers and film makers namely Steven Wong & Takako Uno, Neville Coleman, Mathieu Meur, Tony Wu, Gary Bell, Aaron Wong, Jason Heller and David Warth devoted their time to judge the submitted entries.
It was fantastic to see such enthusiasm for this event from different corners of Australasia and we hope the results reflect the ambitious '2011 Underwater Snapshot of Australasia'
The winners were announced at the Underwater Festival Awards ceremony during the ODEX & Underwater Festival Party on October 8th. The prestigious Underwater Festival Trophies were awarded to the first prize winners in all categories as well as the best of show Photography and Video - of course in addition to the fabulous prizes.
For those that did not make it to the show or awards night, please visit the full results, blogs and galleries on the extensive Underwater Festival website at underwaterfestival.org
Underwater Festival 2012
Wheels are in motion for the Underwater Festival 2012. Following from the feedback we received, the format will stay much the same, except you will have the whole month of September 2012 to shoot. So start planning your trips and keep your eyes on the Underwater Festival website.
