The winners of the 2014 Ocean Art Competition have been announced. The competition is organized by Underwater Photography Guide and was judged by underwater photographers Tony Wu, Martin Edge, Marty Snyderman and Scott Gietler.

Press Release

Culver City, CA – December 15, 2014 – The prestigious Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition, organized by the Underwater Photography Guide, has announced the 2014 winners. This year’s Ocean Art Competition attracted a very high caliber of photos, representing entrants from over 50 countries.

Over $70,000 of prizes will be awarded to 60 underwater photographers, highlighted by an 11-day Indonesia liveaboard trip on the SMY Ondina, a 7-night dive package at Paradise Taveuni Resort in Fiji, a 7-night Maldives liveaboard trip on the Manthiri, a 7-night Solomon Islands liveaboard trip on the Bilikiki, a 10-night dive package at Lissenung Dive Resort in Papua New Guinea and a variety of gift certificates from Bluewater Photo. Premium prizes are provided by Villa Markisa (Bali), the Discovery Fleet (Tubbataha), Emperor Divers (Maldives), VoliVoli (Fiji), Atmosphere (Philippines), Kosrae Nautilus Resort (Micronesia), Atlantis Philippines, Wananavu (Fiji), Palau Dive Adventures, Mike Ball Dive Expeditions (Australia), Alor Divers (Indonesia), Manta Ray Bay (Yap), El Galleon (Philippines), Maluku Divers (Indonesia), Juliana’s Hotel & Sea Saba Dive Center (Caribbean), Eco Divers Resort Lembeh, Blackbeard’s Cruises (Bahamas), Scuba Seraya (Bali) and Bluewater Travel.

Ocean Art 2014 judges included prestigious underwater photographers Tony Wu, Martin Edge, Marty Snyderman and Scott Gietler.

There are at least 4 winners in each of the 12 categories, including Wide-Angle, Macro, Portrait, Behavior, Novice, Nudibranchs, Super Macro, Divers & Fashion, Cold Water and 3 compact camera categories.

The Best of Show was a stunning wide-angle photo shot from behind a breaking wave by Ray Collins at Kirra Beach, Australia. Other outstanding images include some out-of-this-world fish and marine life shots, rarely seen underwater behavior, iridescent shrimp, models in pools, smiling turtles, vibrantly colored squid and some dramatic black and white moments. Thousands of entries were viewed by the judges before the final set of amazing images were selected and deemed some of the best underwater photos in the world.

The quality of image submissions was incredible, making judging very difficult but ensuring the prestige of the Ocean Art Competition. Bluewater Photo and Travel owner and Underwater Photography Guide publisher, Scott Gietler said, “The caliber of photos in Ocean Art this year was amazing, and the judges had to make some very difficult decisions when evaluating photos in the contest. The winning photos were submitted from oceans and freshwater around the world by many talented underwater photographers. Congratulations to all the winners.”

Winning photos can be seen on the Underwater Photography Guide.

Complete list of winners:

Best of Show Ray Collins

Wide-Angle 1st Place: Ray Collins 2nd Place: Gang Song 3rd Place: Shane Gross 4th Place: Montse Grillo 5th Place: Davide Lopresti HM: Alejandro Prieto HM: Eiko Jones HM: David Salvatori

Macro 1st Place: Ron Watkins 2nd Place: Uwe Schmolke 3rd Place: Marchione Giacomo 4th Place: Anthony Berberian 5th Place: Digant Desai HM: Annika Persson HM: Filip Staes

Coldwater 1st Place: Lill Haugen 2nd Place: David Salvatori 3rd Place: Nirupam Nigam 4th Place: Kaido Haagen HM: Michael Weberberger HM: Gang Song

Portrait 1st Place: Nonna Pokras 2nd Place: Mario Odorisio 3rd Place: Steven Kovacs 4th Place: Christine Shepard 5th Place: Lill Haugen HM: Uwe Schmolke HM: David Salvatori HM: Luc Rooman

Marine Life Behavior 1st Place: Borut Furlan 2nd Place: Ilian Ben Tov 3rd Place: Steven Kovacs 4th Place: Jerry Tang HM: Roland Bach HM: Steven Kovacs

Novice dSLR 1st Place: Yatwai So 2nd Place: Carolyn Wang 3rd Place: Collin Wu 4th Place: Renee Capozzola HM: Yatwai So HM: Renee Capozzola

Compact Macro 1st Place: Giacomo Giovannini 2nd Place: Kiyoung Jang 3rd Place: Fabio Galbiati 4th Place: Elisabeth Lauwerys HM: Dusan Zencak HM: Chandy de Wit

Compact Marine Life Behavior 1st Place: Jack Berthomier 2nd Place: Jack Berthomier 3rd Place: Alexander Bublitz 4th Place: Igor Pereverzev HM: Michal Ross

Compact Wide-Angle 1st Place: Arek Mszyca 2nd Place: Marc Casanovas 3rd Place: Stephen Holinski 4th Place: Stephen Holinski HM: Marc Casanovas

Nudibranchs 1st Place: Eduardo Acevedo Fernandez 2nd Place: Jackie Hildering 3rd Place: Diana Paboojian 4th Place: Luc Rooman HM: Yatwai So HM: Yury Ivanov

Super Macro 1st Place: Filippo Borghi 2nd Place: Raffaele Livornese 3rd Place: Qing Lin 4th Place: Robert Roy HM: Jeffrey de Guzman

Divers/ Fashion 1st Place: Lucie Drlikova 2nd Place: Steffen Binke 3rd Place: Nina Baxa 4th Place: Jim Catlin HM: Massimo Giorgetta HM: Rui Guerra

Visit the winners page at Underwater Photography Guide.