PHOTO COMPETITION

The winners of the 11th Annual Photo Competition for UN World Oceans Day were announced on June 7th, 2024, during the UN World Oceans Day (UNWOD) 2024 event at the UN Headquarters in New York. The free competition, which launched this past March, explored the five thematic categories linked to the overarching 2024 theme: “Awaken New Depths.” World-renowned judges underwater photographer Tom St George (UK), cave instructor and explorer Julia Gugelmeier (Germany), photographer and dive center operator Mohamed Rifshan Shaheem (Maldives), and underwater photographer Mayumi Takeuchi-Ebbins (Japan) selected first, second, and third place winners for the categories. Winners were selected from thousands of global entries made by both amateur and professional photographers.

The 2024 Photo Competition for UN World Oceans Day is coordinated in collaboration between the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, DPG, Oceanic Global, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, and Nausicaá.

The 2024 winning photographers hail from nine different countries: Renee Capozzola, Patrick Webster, Sina Ritter (“Awaken New Depths”), Andrea Marandino, Stuart Chape (“Small Island Developing States”), Mathieu Macias, George Kuowei Kao, Irene Middleton (“Big and Small Underwater Faces”), Taryn Schulz, Daniel Sly, Vanessa Mignon (“Underwater Seascapes”), Michael Sswat, Emmett Sparling, Romeo Bodolai (“Above Water Seascapes”). All participants signed a charter of 14 commitments regarding ethics in photography.

The United Nations World Oceans Day Photo Competition is an ongoing tradition that calls on photographers and artists from around the world to communicate the beauty of the ocean and the importance of the respective UNWOD themes each year. Winning photos from past years can additionally be seen at www.unworldoceansday.org.

Awaken New Depths

© Renee Capozzola (USA). Awaken New Depths — Winner
“Bringing Up The Net”: This large discarded fishing net was found lying on the reef at about 30 meters in Kona, Hawaii. Volunteers from Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA), brought up this net by working closely together, using lift bags, and the net was then raised onto a boat provided by Kona Honu Divers. Earlier that day, ODA had raised and extracted large volumes of fishing line (ultimately filling large buckets for removal) that had been snarled upon the reef. Unfortunately, our ocean suffers from large amounts of debris, which can destroy reefs, entangle marine life, and release harmful chemicals. Many thanks to organizations such as ODA for helping to clean our ocean and preserve marine ecosystems for future generations.

© Patrick Webster (USA). Awaken New Depths — 2nd Place
Kelp restoration technician Andrew Kim removes purple sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) from an experimental site that will investigate whether divers can adequately defend and restore kelp forests devastated by warming oceans. Since 1980, kelp forests around Monterey Bay have declined in their canopy coverage by 90-some percent. Most recently, beginning in 2013, a “perfect ecological storm” hit the kelp everywhere it hurts, stressing the forests and emboldening its grazers in the absence of their predators. The disappearance of kelp up and down the coast has raised the alarm, rallying countless organizations and dedicated divers to try their chilly hands at becoming gardeners of the kelp forests. By playing sea otter, sunflower star and seaweed surrogate in their absence, these inspiring coastal caretakers are hoping to bolster the coastline and give it a fighting chance for a more resilient future ecosystem and community in the face of climate change.

© Sina Ritter (Germany). Awaken New Depths — 3rd Place
“Guiding Fins”: This photo captures a moving scene in Costa Rica where local conservationists tenderly release some hawksbill turtle hatchlings into the ocean. The image brings us close to the gentle hands of a conservationist, carefully escorting these tiny, vulnerable creatures toward the vastness of the sea—their ultimate haven. As these hatchlings navigate a world filled with predators and natural challenges, the image emphasizes the crucial role humans have in protecting our planet’s wildlife. It’s a vivid reminder of the delicate thread of life and how targeted conservation efforts can significantly boost the survival rates of these young turtles.

Small Island Developing States

© Andrea Marandino (Brazil). Small Island Developing States — Winner
This image was taken in Abatao, North Tarawa, Kiribati. The children of Kiribati have a close relationship to the ocean and play in the water from a young age. Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati, is a narrow strip of land that lies between the Pacific and an enormous lagoon that requires a freshwater lens. The kids are always smiling and happily interact with the few visitors, but their future is uncertain. Kiribati’s coral atolls are very low-lying, with a maximum elevation of 3 to 4 meters above sea level, making it one of the countries most threatened by climate change.

© Andrea Marandino (Brazil). Small Island Developing States — 2nd Place
This shot was taken in the village of Korotongo, on the southern coast of Viti Levu, Fiji. The lady in the photo, Mele, was catching sea urchins with two cousins—something they do regularly together for their own consumption. She would open the sea urchins to extract the edible part, mixing them in a bucket with lemon and chilli. They invited me to join (classic Fijian hospitality), and we ate them fresh on the beach, with bread fruit on the side. Delicious, and one of my favorite memories of Fiji.

© Stuart Chape (Australia). Small Island Developing States — 3rd Place
Coastal village, Solomon Islands: The large village of Haghalu is located on the south coast of Ngela Sule island in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands. The elevation of the village ranges from 1 to 5 meters above sea level and is surrounded by coral reefs and deeper sea that support village livelihoods and food security by providing marine resources. Like all Pacific islands’ coastal villages, Haghalu is vulnerable to climate change, particularly rising seas and extreme weather events.

Big and Small Underwater Faces

© Mathieu Macias (France). Big and Small Underwater Faces – Winner
This photograph is a portrait of a leafy seadragon taken in Rapid Bay, South Australia, where it is endemic. I was absolutely charmed by this creature as soon as I saw it for the first time in a photo, and it became a dream for me to meet one. Although the first try was a failure, I decided to come back a few months later and my dream came true. I was so happy to meet this animal that is so cute and almost unreal, with its amazing camouflage ability. Due to the animal’s shyness, it was a big challenge to shoot this portrait, but I am delighted with the result.

© George Kuowei Kao. Big and Small Underwater Faces — 2nd Place
A dive revealed a hard coral hosting blennies, whose charm rivaled groundhogs, through my new lens. As I captured their likeness, creativity spurred me to push the scene’s boundaries. Employing a snoot, I orchestrated a dramatic, overexposed standoff between two blennies. Jason, my guide, with a heart-shaped gesture, turned a shared look into a shared vision. This photo, a fusion of spontaneous nature and a flash of inspiration, is the fruit of that dive.

© Irene Middleton (New Zealand). Big and Small Underwater Faces — 3rd Place
This is a juvenile football octopus (Ocythoe tuberculata), a pelagic octopus species that usually lives in midwater, at a depth of around 200 meters, where they are the favorite prey of lancetfishes and rissos dolphins. The juveniles are occasionally encountered near the surface, where they often use large salps as protection. I saw a handful in salps on this day at the Poor Knights Islands off New Zealand’s northeastern coast, but this was the only free-swimming juvenile I encountered.

Underwater Seascapes

© Taryn Schulz (Canada). Underwater Seascapes — Winner
“Cormorant Love”: This image was taken at Isla Islotes, off the Mexican state of Baja California, a location known for its sea lion colony. The day we dived here, there happened to be a large number of sardines taking refuge by the island, which became an exciting spectacle in the water, with pelicans and cormorants like in this photo flying around and torpedoing themselves in the water. Moments before this shot, the sardines were swimming very quickly, so I turned around as I knew something was coming, and I was so happy to capture the heart shape of the sardines as they fled from the cormorants.

© Daniel Sly (Australia). Underwater Seascapes — 2nd Place
During the winter months, hundreds of thousands of giant cuttlefish (Sepia apama) aggregate in the shallow waters of the upper Spencer Gulf in South Australia. The cuttlefish arrive here with just one thing on their minds: mating! The gathering of these cuttlefish is skewed towards the males of the species at a ratio of around eight to one, so competition for the limited numbers of females can be fierce. In the foreground of this image, a large male has completely engulfed a smaller female with its arms, while in the background, several other sets of males can be seen challenging one another for the opportunity to mate with the nearby female.

© Vanessa Mignon (Australia). Underwater Seascapes — 3rd Place
I traveled to Baja California, Mexico, hoping to witness the Mobula munkiana aggregation. On this day, we found a vortex of them in deep, blue waters. They were circling and swimming in unison. It felt like a beautiful, hypnotic dance. Seeing such big aggregations can lead one to think that their populations are doing well. Unfortunately, Mobula munkiana are listed as “Vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Above Water Seascapes

© Michael Sswat (Germany). Above Water Seascapes – Winner
Sitting at the rocky shore in Norway watching the northern lights and their reflection in the sea surface with friends—what more do you want?! In this case, we even had more beautiful nature to experience, as earlier in the day, we were diving through canyons into incredible kelp forests meeting lobsters and nudibranchs, in the Namsfjord, off the village of Utvørda, north of Trondheim.

© Emmett Sparling (Canada). Above Water Seascapes — 2nd Place
On our first night in the Tuamotus, French Polynesia, we stopped in Tahanea—an uninhabited atoll deep in this stunning archipelago. We had a perfectly windless evening, where the ocean turned to glass. The next morning, the water was still glassy and a group of blacktip reef sharks patrolled the waters around our boat. Rainbows and sharks are common subjects in the Tuamotus, two things I’ll never get used to.

© Romeo Bodolai (Hungary). Above Water Seascapes — 3rd Place
In Myanmar, a fisherman tries to catch fish for his family using a traditional technique. This picture was taken on Inle Lake in 2019. I was lucky with the pleasing, warm light, which added a nice extra touch to this beautiful moment.

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 five thematic categories open for submissions:

1. Awaken New Depths

   • Images that appeal to new depths of compassion, understanding, collaboration, and commitment for the ocean and the issues it faces. Photos that influence our perspectives and make us fundamentally reconsider not only our relationship to the ocean but also our methods and mediums of honoring, nurturing, and protecting it

2. Small Island Developing States

   • Images showcasing the beauty of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) or demonstrating the intimate connection of SIDS and their people to the ocean. Entries in this category may have the chance to have their images displayed at the 4th International Conference on Small Island Developing States, to be held in Antigua and Barbuda from May 27th–30th, 2024

3. Big and Small Underwater Faces

   • Portraits of marine life underwater that feature faces big and/or small to help personalize the world beneath the waves

4. Underwater Seascapes

   • Awe-inspiring underwater seascapes of the ocean’s splendors, from life in the ocean to ecosystems and exchanges we don’t typically see, anything that inspires beauty, promise, or potential. A minimum of 50% should be taken underwater, also allowing half-above water and half-below water shots

5. Above Water Seascapes

   • Landscapes depicting an environment dependent on the ocean, taken above water

Winning images will be recognized at the United Nations on June 7th during the United Nations event marking World Oceans Day 2024. 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.

• The contest is open to entrants of all skill levels.

• Photo contest staff and judges are not allowed to enter the contest.

• Winners will be announced during the hybrid UN World Oceans Day event – this year celebrated on June 7th in New York – hosted by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, in partnership with Oceanic Global, and published on www.unworldoceansday.org and DPG shortly afterwards.

• Entries may have been taken from any camera, digital or film (as scanned slides).

• Conservation rules will be strictly observed. Flora and fauna should never be stressed or endangered for the sake of a photo. Entries suspected of involving the following behavior will be disqualified:
  • Photographers visibly damaging the environment (e.g., gear dragging or kicking up sand, divers exhibiting poor buoyancy control)
  • Animals with signs of stress (e.g., puffed puffers, inking octopus)
  • Animals moved to an unnatural environment or risky location
  • Marine life being touched or placed (e.g., nudibranchs, coral polyps, seahorse tails)
• Entrants will be obliged to agree to the following charter:

• Images that have won or placed in photo contests with winning entries announced before March 1st, 2024 may not be submitted. Any single image that was part of a portfolio, but did not place as a single image, is eligible to be entered. A winning image is defined as follows:
  • Any image that has placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in a major photography contest (to be determined subjectively by judges). (When a concern is raised, it will be considered by the judging panel, rectified and communicated if deemed necessary. Any bashing on social media will result in disqualification. We expect respect for and kindness towards fellow entrants)
  • 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 eligible

• Photographers retain all copyrights to their images. The organizers of World Oceans Day Photo Contest retain the right to publish the contest entries in any format to congratulate or feature the winners and their respective images, and to promote future World Oceans Day events, as well as for awareness-raising purposes for the work of the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea. Winning images will be included in a press release for third party websites and publications in the context of congratulating and/or featuring the winners and winning images, and to promote future World Oceans Day events. Winning images can be used by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations and their partners to promote awareness, preservation and conservation. Strict guidelines requiring photo credit and specific one-time press release usage are issued along with the press release.

• 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.

• Entries must be saved in JPEG format and should be sized to be between 2,000 and 6,000 pixels in the longest dimension. Please limit your images to a maximum file size of 4,900KB (4.9MB). Images will be viewed on a large monitor and should be in the AdobeRGB 1998 or sRGB color space.

• Please do not include any watermark or borders on your images. These elements will detract from the image’s impact. It’s not that we don't want you to protect your images; it’s just hard to appreciate an image with a watermark over it. (We will keep the display of winning images consistent, and when your image is displayed, it will be clearly labeled as your image.)

• The same image can only be entered into one category.

Note: Entrants should retain high-resolution and RAW files of their submissions. In the event your submission is selected as a finalist, you will be asked to submit a RAW file to check if adjustments made to the image comply with the rules and a high-resolution file for printing and display. Entrants will also be asked to provide a caption (subject, location, story). The judging of submissions will take place in late April and early May. If you plan to travel during that time, you should be prepared to send files when requested. Not providing files or failing to provide files in time will lead to disqualification.

Tom St George originally discovered a passion for diving after emigrating from the UK to New Zealand, but it took a move to the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula to truly combine his love for photography and scuba diving. He is best known for his award-winning images of the cenotes and underwater caves of Mexico. Tom is passionate about the need to protect our oceans, seas, and waters.

He works full-time as an underwater photographer and shares his enthusiasm for underwater photography through coaching, group workshops, and trips. He has been involved in documenting several cave-diving exploration projects in Mexico.

Instagram: @tom.st.george

Julia Gugelmeier is a cave diving instructor, passionate cave diver, and explorer living in Tulum, Mexico. An experienced underwater model, she has worked with many underwater photographers in the cenotes, caverns, and caves of Mexico. Born in Germany, Julia fell in love with the ocean during her open water scuba course in Thailand two decades ago and has never looked back.

In her spare time, Julia is working on a personal documentary project to raise awareness about the need to protect our aquifers—and how everything is connected.

Instagram: @cavedivingtulum

Mohamed Rifshan Shaheem is a photographer and dive center operator based in the Maldives. He developed his early interest in photography during his service in the Maldives National Defence Force, and this led to a career as a videographer and photographer, both on land and underwater, for resorts around the South Asian nation.

For the past 10 years, Mohamed has owned and operated two dive centers in the Maldives. He continues to dive almost every day and his camera is nearly always with him!

Instagram: @rifshanshaheem

Following a successful career in finance based in London and Tokyo, Mayumi Takeuchi-Ebbins has traveled the world solo, pursuing her passion for underwater photography. She loves capturing a moment of marine life behavior that tells a story in a single shot, and sharing the underwater world with those not given the chance to experience it for themselves.

Mayumi’s images have placed in numerous underwater photographer contests, including in the “Underwater Seascapes” category of the 2023 Photo Competition for UN World Oceans Day.

Instagram: @squirri007_diving

Ellen Cuylaerts was born in Belgium and now resides in the UK, having spent 12 years living in the Caribbean, where she devoted her time to diving, photography and conservation work. On World Oceans Day in 2017, she addressed heads of state at the General Assembly of the United Nations, highlighting the work of photographers and filmmakers involved in the protection of the oceans. As curator of the Photo Competition for UN World Oceans Day since 2016, she developed a Charter of Ethics for UN World Oceans Day as well as the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. A Fellow of The Explorers Club, Ellen was a member of its Flag and Honors Committee between 2016 and 2020. She became a certified cave diver in 2018 and the following year was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame. In 2021, she participated in her first cave exploration expedition to Mexico’s Cenote Xunaan-Ha.

Instagram: @underwaterellen

The 2024 Photo Competition for UN World Oceans Day is coordinated in collaboration between the following:

• United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea

• DivePhotoGuide (DPG)

• Oceanic Global

• United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

• United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

• Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO

• Nausicaá

If your organization would be interested in supporting the Annual World Oceans Day Photo Contest please contact us here.