News

Underwater photographers and film makers flocked to the French Riviera (Antibes) for the 34th World Festival of Underwater Pictures from Oct 24th - 28th, albeit in a slightly different venue than years before.

The debate and controversy associated with the venue being located on the grounds of Marineland (and their captive cetacean program), was much debated, but from what we understand this was the only way the festival would be possible this year. The organizers of the festival are indeed supporters of the marine environment and marine conservation, and although we are not thrilled with the choice of venue, we do understand the costs and logistics involved in hosting such an event, and we appreciate the effort from Daniel Mercier and Christophe Pierron to obtain continued local government and NGO support for this iconic international festival.

Thanks to Gyula "Jules" Somogyi (heliox films) for setting up and attending to the DivePhotoGuide booth, which acted as a gathering place and a DPG & Wetpixel bar at the end of each day. Thanks to Jules we have a nice report on the winners. Mary Lynn Price also posted a nice report on Wetpixel.

Below you will find a sample of some of the winning images. The first three images are just single examples of the amazing images in the portfolios of the color slide winners, Tom Peschak, Laurent Ballesta and Noam Kortler.

You can find all of the winning images on the official competition website.

---

SLIDES


GOLD DIVER (450 euros)
PAPUA NEW GUINEA PRIZE ( 3 weeks of diving in PNG)
to Thomas P. PESCHAK [Germany]


SILVER DIVER (300 euros)
to Laurent BALLESTA [France]


BRONZE DIVER (150 euros)
to Noam KORTLER [Israël]


PRIZE André LABAN "La Passion du Bleu" (300 euros)
to Julia Edwards [Netherlands]

UNDERWATER ADVERTISING PRIZES

(STILLS Category)



GOLD PRIZE
to Zac MACAULAY [Great Britain]
for "Get your 30 mins a day, any way" (British Heart Foundation)


Special Mention
to Agence Ogilvy & Mather [Great Britain] for
"How much liquid is too much liquid" (Lenovo ThinkPads)


Special Mention
to Zac MACAULAY [Great Britain] for
"Let's keep looking deeper" (Bristol-Myers Squibb Medical Imaging)

FILM Category
GOLD PRIZE
to Mike VALENTINE [Great Britain]
for "Smirnoff Sea" ; "Rich Fruit Mix" and "Stella Artois Priests"

FILMS Group A

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC PRIZE

GOLD PRIZE (5000 euros)
to Serge DUMONT, Association Ried Bleu [France]
for Les gravières du Ried, une biodiversité à découvrir

SILVER PRIZE (3000 euros)
to Christian PETRON, Yves LEFEVRE , Cinémarine, Sorciers Productions [France
for Requins sous haute surveillance

BRONZE PRIZE (2000 euros)
to Jérôme ESPLA, Poisson-Lune Productions [France]
for Princes des épaves

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
to Jacque-Olivier TROMPAS, Néo Productions [France]
for Un lagon en héritage

PUBLIC PRIZE
to Ralf KIEFNER, Peter SPIELMANN, Andréa RAMALHO [Germany]
for Le grand festin

ALBERT 1st MONACO OCEANOGRAPHIC FOUNDATION PRIZE (1 500 euros)
to Christian PETRON, Yves LEFEVRE , Cinémarine, Sorciers Productions [France
for Requins sous haute surveillance

PLANETE THALASSA PRIZE
to BY RIBEROLLES François, Saint Thomas Productions [France]
for Otaries - Derrière le masque du clown

INFORMATION & NEWS PRIZE
to BALDUCCHI Isabelle, ANTONI Georges, FERRER Geneviève, France 3 [France]
for Mari in Paci (série)

PRIZE FOR ANIMAL DOCUMENTARY
to Sebastian HERNANDIS, Jose-Manuel HERRERO [Espagne]
for Hyeres Islands

PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY
to Bernard CRUTZEN, Olivier FONTAINE, MYROSE HOAREAU Prod., ALEFA Prod. [France]
for Les mémoires de la mer

FICTION PRIZE
Not awarded this year

HUMOUR PRIZE
Jacques ROMIEU, Jacker Studio [France]
Débit de poissons

PRIZE FOR THE UNUSUAL
Not awarded this year

PRIZE FOR THE BEST MUSICAL ADAPTATION
Not awarded this year

SPECIALE MENTION
to Yves BOURGEOIS, ATOM Productions [France]
for Le secret des déferlantes

FILMS Group B

GOLD PRIZE (2000 euros)
SMY Ondina Prize (Cruise for a value of approx. 1680 to 2200 euros)
to Danny VAN BELLE [Belgium]
for Les fenêtres de la vie

SILVER PRIZE (1500 euros)
Odyssea Divers Prize (Cruise value 2300 euros
to Philippe LAFORGE, Jean-Clauby MICHA [Belgium]
for Secrets de rivière

BRONZE PRIZE (1000 euros)
to Georges ANTONI [France]
for Histoire d'île

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
to Leonardo SERGIANI [ITALY]
for La mer

PUBLIC PRIZE
to Mark THORPE [GREAT BRITAIN]
for The Majesty of Muck

F.F.C.V. (Fédération Française of Cinéma and Vidéo) PRIZE
to Leandro BLANCO [ESPAGNE]
for Une seule pour tous

PAUL RICARD OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE PRIZE
to Elodie TURPIN [CANADA]
for L'hippocampe - Une valse pour la vie

DIMITRI REBIKOFF PRIZE
to John BOYLE, Fionn CROW HOWIESON [GREAT BRITAIN]
for Klin Wara

BRIGITTE CRUICKSHANK PRIZE (750 euros)
to Danny VAN BELLE [Belgium]
for Les fenêtres de la vie

INFORMATION & NEWS PRIZE
to Rafael GONZALEZ-OLIAS, Mayte SANCHEZ-GIRON [Espagne]
for Le dernier voyage

PRIZE FOR ANIMAL DOCUMENTARY
to Alberto PENNA [Italy]
for Action... Let's eat!

PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY
to Fabio RUBERTI, Stefano MARCONCINI, IANTD Srl [Italy]
for Szent Istvan

FICTION PRIZE
to Alexander PENKIN [RUSSIA]
for Cabaret

HUMOUR PRIZE
to André LABAN [France]
for Neptunia

PRIZE FOR THE UNUSUAL
to José LACHAT [SUISSE]
for Insatiable

PRIZE FOR THE BEST MUSICAL ADAPTATION
to Danny VAN BELLE [Belgium]
for Les fenêtres de la vie

AWARDS FOR SLIDES AND SLIDE SHOWS

CONCHYIOLOGY

JORGE ALBUQUERQUE PRIZE
to Orhan AYTUR [Turquie] for la diapositive conchyliologie n°32

PRIZE OF THE FRENCH CONCHYIOLOGY ASSOCIATION
to Giovanni PISCITELLI [Italy] for slide n°1 in the series Portfolio n°112

AUDIO-VISUAL PRESENTATIONS

Sound series

GOLD DIVER (450 euros)
to Filip STAES [Belgium]
for Secret gardens

SILVER DIVER (300 euros)
to Fulvia et Pierluigi BORTOLETTO [Italy]
for Florida suites

PRIZE FOR THE BEST MUSICAL ADAPTATION
to Annibale SIMI [ITALY]
for Mediterraneo

SLIDE SHOWS

GOLD DIVER (450 ?)
to Fulvia et Pierluigi BORTOLETTO [Italy]
for Aotearoa

SILVER DIVER (300 euros)
fo Jean BY BREMAEKER [Belgium]
for Notre planète et ses merveilles sous-marines

PRIZE FOR THE BEST MUSICAL ADAPTATION
to Fulvia et Pierluigi BORTOLETTO [Italy]
for Aotearoa

AWARDS FOR PRINTS

COLOUR PRINTS

GOLD DIVER (450 euros)
to Clemente ACQUADRO [Italy]
for la photo n°59 ("Night dancers")

SILVER DIVER (300 euros)
to BERNABEU Frédérique [France]
for la photo n°16

BRONZE DIVER (150 euros)
to Primo CARDINI [Italy]
for la photo n°67 ("Pesce curioso")

PRIX André LABAN "La Passion du Bleu"
to Didier BOGHOSSIAN [France]
for "Tourbillon bleu" (photo couleur n°24)

YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHER PRIZE under 15
to Dmitro BEVZ [Ukraine]
for La photo Jeune Photographe n°5 "(Fantaisie")

OUR WORLD UNDERWATER SCHOLARSHIP SOCIETY PRIZE (YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHER 18 TO 25 YEARS)
to Anna KOCHERGINA [RUSSIA]
for colour photo n°166

BLACK & WHITE PRINTS

GOLD DIVER (450 euros)
to Denis PALBIANI [Italy]
for photo n°45 ("Capo d'acqua lake")

SILVER DIVER (300 euros)
to Primo CARDINI [Italy]
for photo n°24 ("Riflessi in bianco e nero")

JEAN and MARYSE CHAPEYROUX PRIZE
to GAZZAROLI Claudio [Suisse]
for photo n°18 ("B-17")

"MUSIC AND THE SEA"
FRANÇOIS BY ROUBAIX PRIZE (700 euros)
Not awarded this year

PRIZE OF VILLE D'ANTIBES ( 500 euros)
to Samuel LELOUP [France]
for "Mysteries of the Deep"

PAUL RICARD OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE PRIZE (300 euros)
to Laurent ZILIANI [France]
for "Flugtraum"


"THE BOOK AND THE SEA"

INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR UNDERWATER IMAGE BOOKS (1500 euros)
to Voyage au coeur des récifs
by Alexander MUSTARD [Great Britain]
publisher Romain Pages Editions

INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR UNDERWATER IMAGE BOOKS - SPECIAL MENTION
to Reef - Exploring the underwater world
by Scubazoo [Malaysia]
publisher SCUBAZOO

BEST UNDERWATER GUIDE PRIZE (1000 euros)
to 100 wrecks in the Côte d'Azur from la Ciotat to St Tropez
by Anne et Jean-Pierre JONCHERAY [France]
publisher GAP Editions

CORAL PRIZE ( 1000 euros)
to Tempête sur Armen
by Jean-Jacques ANTIER [France]
publisher Presses by la Cité

APNEA PRIZE FOR UNDERWATER REPORTING

1st PRIZE ( 900 euros)
to Pierre CONSTANT [France]
for Îles de l'amirauté - Dans l'antre de la sirène

1st PRIZE ( 600 euros)
to Henri ESKENAZI [France]
for Tsarabanjina - L'éloge du bonheur

UNDERWATER WEB SITE PRIZE