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Below you will find the guidelines for the monthly Underwater Photography Contest Series. The contests are free to enter and each month we will be giving away a valuable prize - because you deserve it...and that’s how we roll!

Below you will also find a link to all upcoming contests themes, links to archives, as well the general guidelines and rules, which will apply for all contests.

Here’s how it works...
Each month we will be announcing a contest theme. You can easily enter by uploading up to three images into your DPG gallery. The editorial staff of DivePhotoGuide will select a first, second and third place winner. While only first place winners will receive the monthly prize, all three monthly winners will receive an award certificate and will be entered into an annual contest for a chance at the grand prize, which will be awarded based on votes from the DivePhotoGuide community. Monthly prizes will include underwater photo equipment, scuba diving equipment, apparel, and of course dive trips!

Challenge Yourself To An Assignment
At all times we will post six months' worth of themes or subjects. So the next time you go underwater, you can challenge yourself to shoot a specific personal assignment - let's see what you got! 

Entering The Monthly Contests Is Easy
You can add images to one of your existing galleries on DPG or create a new gallery just for your contest entries.

The old tag system is no longer needed to enter competitions. It's now even easier. Simply hit the enter current competition link and use the simple uploading system to upload your images.

Compete, Have Fun, & Earn Prizes

The DPG community is comprised of the best underwater photographers from all corners of the world.  The level of talent never ceases to impress us. The DPG contest series is intended to promote friendly competition, to push your skills, and to give you specific themes or subjects  to focus on for your next dive trip. The deadline for each month is always the last day of the month.

Bookmark this page and you will always be able to plan around the next six months' themes or specific subjects. Good luck and happy shooting!

Current Contests

• October 2009: Reef Scenics
  Prize: Olympus Stylus Tough 8000 Waterproof Camera (value $350)
• November 2009: Wrecks
• December 2009: Divers
• January 2010: The Color Yellow
  
• February 2010: Sharks
  
• March 2010: Animal Portraits 

Past Contests

• August 2009: Nudibranchs - winning images 
  Prize for August is the SLX 800i Focus Light from Nocturnal Lights 
• September 2009: Eyes
  Prize - Mares Abyss 22 Regulator ($600 value)

General Rules

1. The DivePhotoGuide underwater photography contest series is open to entrants of all skill levels, but not open to professional photographers earning more than 25% of their income from photography* or  DivePhotoGuide staff. 
   
   *we will be announcing professional contest themes from time to time, in which case this rule does not apply.
   
   
2. The contest is free to enter, the only requirement is that you have a complete profile on DivePhotoGuide.com.
   
   
3. Winners will be selected on or around the end of the first week following the last day of each calendar month and announced on our homepage.
   
   
4. Contest theme descriptions and maximum number of entries are available on the detail page for each monthly contest.
   
   
5. All submitted images must have been taken by the entrant.
   
   
6. Images that have won or placed in photo contests, may not be submitted. A winning image is defined as follows:
   
   - any image that has placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in any contest that has resulted in prizes worth $100 USD or more.
   
   - any image that has placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd in a "major" photography contest (to be determined subjectively by judges).
   
   - any image that has placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in any "photo of the year"-type contest. Photos of the day, week, or month are fine, as long as they have not resulted in prizes worth $100 USD or more.
   
   
7. All images need to have been taken underwater.
   
   
8. Images may be edited with software, however, this is not a photoshop contest, it is a photography contest. Brightness, sharpness, contrast, and color adjustments are expected with digital photography. Minor cropping and clone stamping is ok. But please do take care in the decisions you make. We reserve the right to audit RAW files and disqualify winning images if we feel they are overly manipulated.
   
   
9. We are adopting the Conservation Rules established by EPIC®. Marine life should never be stressed or endangered for the sake of a photo. Conservation rules will apply to all entries, and decisions will be final. Entries suspected of exhibiting the following behavior will be disqualified:
   
   - Divers visibly damaging the environment (e.g. gear dragging or kicking up sand).
   - Animals with signs of stress (e.g. puffed puffers, inking octopus).
   - Animals moved to an unnatural environment or risky location.
   - Animals being fed (especially with artificial food from divers).
   - Marine life being touched (e.g. coral polyps, seahorse tails).
   - Divers exhibiting poor buoyancy control
   
   
10. Entries may have been taken from any camera, film (as scanned slides) or digital.
    
    
11. All 1st, 2nd and 3rd place monthly winners will automatically be entered into an annual grand prize contest for “Best Underwater Image of the Year”. The images will be presented to the online community between Jan 1st and Jan 15th for voting. Winners will be selected by the DivePhotoGuide community. Only one vote will be allowed per person. A grand prize will be awarded to the 1st place winner, and award certificates will be awarded to two runners up.
    
    
12. Photographers retain all copyrights to their images. DivePhotoGuide.com, retains the right to publish the contest entries in print or online to congratulate or feature the winners and their respective images, and to promote future contests.  Winning images may be included in press releases for third party websites and publications, in the context of congratulating and/or featuring the winners and winning images, and to promote future contests. Strict guidelines requiring photo credit and specific one-time press release usage are issued along with the press release.
    
    
13. We reserve the right to revise or add additional rules at any time. We will notify members of any new rules prior to implementing them.