The Concept

We are all aware of the impact of digital photography, the internet and especially social media on our daily lives. These 'advances' in technology have really had a huge impact on diving as well. Underwater Photography has became cheaper and easier to do and a lot easier to share.

It was with that in mind that the 5th installment of the annual Underwater Festival was taken to a new dimension. We gave participants 10 days to shoot, but they could participate anywhere in 25 countries that we defined as the Australasia Region.

From the 2-11 September 2011, hundreds of divers from all around the world participated in this 'underwater snapshot of Australasia' in all kinds of ways. They dived their way from Sydney to Cairns in 10 days, circumnavigated Bali, showed off their favourite 'own backyard' dive sites, travelled long distances to participate in one of the organised Fringe Events or created their own. Some of the best images and videos are exhibited in Hall 11 during ODEX.

Top 100 Photos and Prizes

You can see the Top 100 photo gallery already on the Underwater Festival website.

There were $150,000 in prizes to be won and 15 Photo Categories and 5 Video Categories to enter.

Not unlike an underwater 'Earth Hour' we want to help to highlight the underwater beauty but also the underwater issues of this fantastic bioregion and help to show the world what we've got to lose.

Underwater Festival Awards

Some of the world's most recognised underwater photographers and film makers namely Neville Coleman, Steven Wong & Takako Uno, Mathieu Meur, Tony Wu, Gary Bell, Aaron Wong, Jason Heller and David Warth devoted their time to judge the submitted entries.

It was fantastic to see such enthusiasm for this event from different corners of Australasia and we hope the results reflect the ambitious '2011 Underwater Snapshot of Australasia'.

At ODEX we will announce the prize winners of this event at the Underwater Festival Awards ceremony during the ODEX & Underwater Festival Party on Saturday night at the Jubilee Hotel. The prestigious Underwater Festival Trophies will be awarded to the first prize winners in all categories as well as the best of show Photography and Video - of course in addition to the fabulous prizes.

We hope you can make it there.

For those that can not make it to the show or awards night, please visit the results, blogs and galleries the extensive Underwater Festival website at underwaterfestival.org

Underwater Festival 2012

Wheels are in motion for the Underwater Festival 2012. The exact format, dates and everything else are still very much undecided. We appreciate any feedback on the 2011 event as well as suggestions for 2012.

About ODEX
The Oceania Dive & Ecotourism Expo (ODEX) is on 7-9 October at the RNA Showgrounds Brisbane. ODEX is now firmly positioned as the Oceania regions' premier scuba diving and water sports trade and consumer show. ODEX 2011 will promote diving destinations, tour operators, equipment manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, training agencies, marine conservation projects and more. Visit the ODEX website.