Global underwater photo comp winners revealed

24 January 2023

Winners of the 11th annual Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition, organized by the Underwater Photography Guide, have recently been announcedwith Kat Zhou’s image, Octopus Mother, shot in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA, taking out top honours and being named Best in Show. It shows a Caribbean reef octopus guarding her eggs. “Like all other species of octopus, this mother does not eat while she tends to her eggs, and she will die after they hatch,” Zhou said. “It was a bittersweet feeling to watch her protect her eggs, knowing that this sad end was coming!”

 "Octopus Mother". Best in Show - Kat Zhou. Shot in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA.
 "Octopus Mother". Best in Show - Kat Zhou. Shot in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA.

Winners were announced across 14 categories, and a full list appears below. Ocean Art 2022 judges included prestigious underwater photographers Tony Wu, Mark Strickland, and Marty Snyderman. They evaluated thousands of entries from 96 countries.

 To see all the winning images, head to the competition website.

2022 competition winners

Wide Angle

1st Place Renee Capozzola

2nd Place Daniel Nicholson

3rd Place Martin Broen

4th Place Julian Gunther

Honorable Mention Josh Blank

Honorable Mention Adam Martin

 "Shark Trio". 1st Place (Wide Angle) - Renee Capozzola. Shot in South Fakarava, French Polynesia.
 "Shark Trio". 1st Place (Wide Angle) - Renee Capozzola. Shot in South Fakarava, French Polynesia.

Macro

1st Place Kat Zhou

2nd Place Matthew Sullivan

3rd Place Nicolas Remy

Honorable Mention Novrizal Herdananto

Honorable Mention Kat Zhou

"Southern Bobtail Squid". 3rd Place (Macro) - Nicholas Remy. Shot in Tasmania, Australia.
"Southern Bobtail Squid". 3rd Place (Macro) - Nicholas Remy. Shot in Tasmania, Australia.

Marine Life Behavior

1st Place Galice Hoarau

2nd Place Bryant Turffs

3rd Place Tom Shlesinger

4th Place Mirko Zanni

Honorable Mention Luc Rooman

Honorable Mention Mark Green

Portrait

1st Place Kuo-Wei Kao

2nd Place Gabriella Luongo

3rd Place Kim Briers

4th Place Andrew Cummings

Honorable Mention Frank Begun

Honorable Mention Jeff Molder

Honorable Mention Lorenzo Terraneo

 "Mirror Reflection". 1st Place (Portrait) - Kuo-Wei Kao. Shot in Pinglin, Taiwan.
 "Mirror Reflection". 1st Place (Portrait) - Kuo-Wei Kao. Shot in Pinglin, Taiwan.
"Shark Portrait". 2nd Place (Portrait) - Gabriella Luongo. Shot in Azores, Portugal.
"Shark Portrait". 2nd Place (Portrait) - Gabriella Luongo. Shot in Azores, Portugal.
"Eye to Eye". 3rd Place (Portrait) - Kim Briers. Shot in Dauin, Philippines.
"Eye to Eye". 3rd Place (Portrait) - Kim Briers. Shot in Dauin, Philippines.

Coldwater

1st Place Nicolas Remy

2nd Place Yannick Gouguenheim

3rd Place Jon Anderson

Honorable Mention Shouhao Ren

Honorable Mention Sage Ono

Nudibranch

1st Place Aleksei Permiakov

2nd Place Veronika Nagy

3rd Place Luke Gordon

Honorable Mention Mayumi Takeuchi-Ebbins

Honorable Mention Talia Greis

Blackwater

1st Place Dennis Corpuz

2nd Place Josh Raia

3rd Place Steven Kovacs

4th Place Marcello Zof

Honorable Mention Steven Kovacs

Honorable Mention Galice Hoarau

Underwater Conservation

1st Place Lawrence Alex Wu

2nd Place Caroline Power

3rd Place Gabriella Luongo

4th Place Celia Kujala

Honorable Mention Alessandro Giannaccini

Honorable Mention Daniel Pio

Underwater Art

1st Place  Sarah Teveldal

2nd Place Julian Nedev

3rd Place Lilian Koh

Honorable Mention Jenny Stock

"Psychedelic Pisces". Honorable Mention (Underwater Art) - Jenny Stock. Shot in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia.
"Psychedelic Pisces". Honorable Mention (Underwater Art) - Jenny Stock. Shot in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia.

Black & White

1st Place Martin Broen

2nd Place Brooke Pyke

3rd Place Piers Baillie

4th Place Renee Capozzola

Honorable Mention Richard Condlyffe

"Cruising the Sand Patch". 2nd Place (Black & White) - Brooke Pyke. Shot in Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia.
"Cruising the Sand Patch". 2nd Place (Black & White) - Brooke Pyke. Shot in Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia.

Compact Wide Angle

1st Place Enrico Somogyi

2nd Place Felix Beck

3rd Place Martina Favero

"Peace". 1st Place (Compact Wide Angle) - Enrico Somogyi. Shot in Leipzig, Germany.
"Peace". 1st Place (Compact Wide Angle) - Enrico Somogyi. Shot in Leipzig, Germany.

Compact Macro

1st Place Eunhee Cho

2nd Place Regie Casia

3rd Place David Pleuvret

4th Place Ipah Uid Lynn

Honorable Mention Martina Favero

Honorable Mention Andrew Michelutti

Honorable Mention Man Bd

"Wunderpus". 2nd Place (Compact Macro) - Regie Casia. Shot in Anilao, Philippines.
"Wunderpus". 2nd Place (Compact Macro) - Regie Casia. Shot in Anilao, Philippines.

Compact Behavior

1st Place PT Hirschfield

2nd Place Sheryl Wright

3rd Place PT Hirschfield

4th Place João Pontes

Honorable Mention Sofia K. Tenggrono

"Anemone Closing Time". 2nd Place (Compact Behaviour) - Sheryl Wright. Shot in Cairns, Australia.
"Anemone Closing Time". 2nd Place (Compact Behaviour) - Sheryl Wright. Shot in Cairns, Australia.

Mobile Phone

1st Place Buzzichelli Alessandro

2nd Place Chris Gug

3rd Place Grega Verc

"Cassiopea in the Blue". 1st Place (Mobile Phone) -  Alessandro Buzzichelli. Shot in Cala Liberotto, Italy.
"Cassiopea in the Blue". 1st Place (Mobile Phone) -  Alessandro Buzzichelli. Shot in Cala Liberotto, Italy.

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