CLICK HERE to enter contest

The photo competition has five thematic categories open for photographic submissions:

 - Underwater seascapes

 - Underwater life

 - Above water seascapes

 - Human Interaction: Making a Difference

 - Youth Category: open category, any image of the ocean (above or below the surface)

(Youth is defined as under 16 years of age as of 1 April 2017)

 

The entries must be submitted electronically through the World Oceans Day Photo Competition portal in accordance with the competition guidelines and subject to the competition rules. Winning images will be recognized at the United Nations on Wednesday, 8 June 2017 during the United Nations event marking World Oceans Day 2017.

 

Winning images and finalists will form part of an information exhibit in which the photos will be paired with narratives explaining the importance of the oceans to humanity and relating humankind’s positive relationship with the ocean.

 

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. Last year, one winning photo was also selected to be used as the cover of the First Global Integrated Marine Assessment.

 

 

 

Contest Rules

 

• The contest is open to entrants of all skill levels.
• Photo contest staff and judges are not allowed to enter the contest.
• Each individual can only win one prize or prize package.
• Winners will be announced on 8 June 2017 in New York, on the occasion of the marking of 2017 World Ocean Day at the United Nations, and published here shortly afterwards.
• Entries may have been taken from any camera, film (as scanned slides) or digital.

 

Conservation Rules will be strictly observed.

 

Flora and fauna should never be stressed or endangered for the sake of a photo. Entries suspected of exhibiting the following behavior will be disqualified:

 

• Photographers visibly damaging the environment (e.g. gear dragging or kicking up sand)
• Animals with signs of stress (e.g. puffed puffers, inking octopus)
• Animals moved to an unnatural environment or risky location
• Marine life being touched (e.g. nudibranchs, coral polyps, seahorse tails)
• Divers exhibiting poor buoyancy control

 

Images that have won or placed in photo contests with winning entries announced before 1 December 2016, 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)
• 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 fine

 

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. 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.

 

Photo Submission Guidelines

 

Entries must be saved in jpeg format and should be sized to be between 2000 and 6000 pixels in the longest dimension. Please limit your images to a maximum file size of 5,000KB (5MB). Images will be viewed on a large monitor and should be in the AdobeRGB 1998 or sRGB color space. An image can be uploaded only into one category.

 

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.