Awarded to the single most compelling and/or beautiful image submitted throughout the competition. This photograph will connect with the judges in a way that no other submission does. The judging panel is not necessarily looking for technical proficiency, rather emotional connection: the ocean photograph of the year.
Yury Ivanov,
Winner
Yury Ivanov,
Photography
Yury Ivanov is an Indonesia-based award-winning underwater photographer and PADI Dive Master with over 15,000 completed dives. He moved to Asia over 14 years ago where he has since made Bali his home to photograph the local macro life. He has specialised in studying nudibranchs and co-authored the identification guidebook Nudibranchs of The Coral Triangle. His work has taken him to underwater sites across Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt, the Maldives, Palau, the Black Sea, and Thailand – but it’s Bali’s vibrant reefs and nudibranch-rich coastlines that continue to inspire him the most.
"My work has taken me to underwater sites across Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt, the Maldives, Palau, the Black Sea, and Thailand; but it’s Bali’s vibrant reefs and nudibranch-rich coastlines that continue to inspire me the most."