
Pawel Zygmunt (Poland)
Above Water Seascapes — Winner
Photography is a powerful medium to convey a feeling or a message. This open and free photo competition seeks to inspire the creation of imagery capturing the beauty, the challenges and the importance of the ocean and humankind’s relation to it, hoping to contribute to actions to preserve this vital resource.
The photo competition has six thematic categories open for submissions:
Winning images will be recognized at the United Nations on June 8th during the United Nations' event marking World Oceans Day 2022. Recognition and diffusion of the winning images and finalists will be widely exposed throughout the contest websites, the media and the informational materials related to subsequent competitions. Winning photos have been printed for exhibitions around the world.
Entries must be submitted electronically in accordance with the contest guidelines and subject to the contest rules.
All entries must be submitted by April 15th, 2022 at 12 midnight Eastern Standard Time (EST). This competition has now ended.
© Sayaka Ichinoseki (Japan). Faces of the Sea – Winner (2021)
I, working in the underwater realm, commit myself to the following code of ethics and bringing education and awareness around my encounters, to help preserve our oceans and blue planet!
Note on photo manipulation: Post-processing images is allowed. This includes global adjustments to exposure, contrast, burning, dodging, cropping, sharpening, noise reduction, and tone. Minor cleaning of images is permitted, including the removal of backscatter, dust and scratches. HDR, panoramas, focus stacking or other techniques that involve using multiple images taken at the same time and place are also allowed.
Adding, removing or moving animals, people, plants or other objects is not allowed. For example, moving a fish, removing a reef element or adding a glow to a divers torch is not acceptable.
While digital manipulation is permitted, please keep in mind this not a Photoshop competition. All images should accurately represent the subject matter and nature. Images that appear to be overly processed may be disqualified at the judges’ discretion.
© Renee Capozzola (USA). The Ocean: Life & Livelihoods – Winner (2021)
Note: Entrants should retain high-resolution and RAW files, if applicable, of their submissions. In the event your submission is selected as a finalist or winner, you will be asked to submit a high-resolution image for printing and display, and, if applicable, a RAW image to check if adjustments made to the image comply with the rules.
Y.Zin Kim is the first professional underwater photographer in Korea, known both for her technical diving skills and her underwater fashion images. She is also a respected commercial photographer in her home country and has produced work for Korean movies, TV and magazines.
The holder of various world records, Y.Zin successfully completed the world’s first sidemount trimix 101-meter depth challenge in 2015, and as a leading female CCR tech diver, she has also contributed to the production of a variety of dive training materials. Y.Zin’s work documenting the female women divers of Korea’s Jeju Island has been instrumental in showcasing haenyeo culture to the world.
Find out more about Y.Zin at www.yzinkim.com.
Sirachai “Shin” Arunrugstichai is a Thai conservation photojournalist and marine biologist who specializes in marine conservation stories. He is an Associate Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers and a National Geographic Explorer. His work has been published in National Geographic, Smithsonian, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Guardian, among others.
When he is not fortunate enough to be photographing in the field, Shin often collaborates on shark and ray research in the waters of Southeast Asia.
To find out more about Shin’s work, visit his website, www.shinsphoto.com. You can also follow him on Instagram.
Rathika Ramasamy is one of India’s foremost wildlife photographers. She is passionate about birds and specializes in bird photography. In documenting birds through her images, she has developed a style that combines technical excellence with captivating storytelling. She has traveled to most of the national parks in India and Africa to document indigenous species and wildlife. Her work has been featured in several exhibitions and numerous national and international publications.
Rathika regularly conducts wildlife photography workshops and holds talks all over India. She has served on the jury panel of many national and international photography awards and contests, including the National Photography Awards, instituted by the Government of India, in 2017 and 2018. For her, wildlife photography is not only a passion, but also a powerful medium to connect people with nature and help motivate the conservation of the natural world. Rathika is a founder member of the Wildlife Conservation of India (WCI).
Find out more about Rathika and her work at www.rathikaramasamy.com.
If your organization would be interested in supporting the Annual World Oceans Day Photo Contest please contact us here.
Above Water Seascapes — Winner
Digital Ocean Photo Art — Winner
Faces of the Sea — Winner
The Ocean: Life & Livelihoods — Winner
Oceanic Discoveries — Winner
Underwater Seascapes — Winner
Above Water Seascapes — 2nd Place
Digital Ocean Photo Art — 2nd Place
Faces of the Sea — 2nd Place
The Ocean: Life & Livelihoods — 2nd Place
Oceanic Discoveries — 2nd Place
Underwater Seascapes — 2nd Place
Above Water Seascapes — 3rd Place
Digital Ocean Photo Art — 3rd Place
Faces of the Sea — 3rd Place
The Ocean: Life & Livelihoods — 3rd Place
Oceanic Discoveries — 3rd Place
Underwater Seascapes — 3rd Place
Competition curator Ellen Cuylaerts talks to Joanna Smart, the photographer that shot the overall winner of the 2020 World Oceans Day Photo Competition
Travel with David Salvatori to Italy as he reveals the story behind his award-winning image
Christian Vizl describes how he captured his award-winning image shot on expedition to the Arctic
Jonas Thormar tells the story behind his award-winning split-shot leopard seal image