The annual DEEP Indonesia International Underwater Photo Competition has grown to be one of the most prestigious and competitive of its kind. As part of the Underwater Competition Series, the contest is organized by DivePhotoGuide and Wetpixel. This year’s competition received thousands of entries vying for the chance to win more than $45,000 in travel and equipment prizes.
Congratulations to Enrico Somogyi, who took home the Best of Show award for a creative capture of a golden jellyfish in Palau. This image, and all the other winning photos, can be viewed right here on UnderwaterCompetition.com, as well as at the DEEP Indonesia Expo in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Thanks again to our talented judging panel, Mike Bartick, Renee Capozzola, Ellen Cuylaerts, Tobias Friedrich, Kate Jonker, and Andrew Marriott. As with all Underwater Competition contests, 15% of proceeds will be donated directly to marine conservation efforts.
Andrew Marriott is a longtime diver, photographer and writer. His work has been published in a wide variety of media around the world, but his true love is writing books. The first of these was Legends Beneath the Waves: Truk Lagoon. The second book in the same series, Philippines, was released in March 2019. Aside from shipwreck books, Andrew also writes dive guides. His guides focus in incredible detail on small areas and seek to take the reader diving in that location in their mind. The first of these is Let’s Go Dive Guide to Anilao, which was written with Ram Yoro. Two more of these guides were released in 2019. 
Ellen Cuylaerts’ work can be seen in exhibitions in Paris, St. Petersburg, Valencia, Marseille and New York. As the curator of the yearly UN World Oceans Day photo competition, she addressed heads of state during the First Ocean Conference at the General Assembly of the United Nations. As a Fellow Explorer International, she became a member of the Flag & Honors Committee of the Explorers Club. She was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in March 2019. Ellen tries to combine contributing to ethics in photography, asserting the importance of being in control during your dives and of balancing health, taking images in remote locations with logistic challenges, and talking at different venues for photographers, divers and conservationists. 
Kate Jonker is an award-winning writer and underwater photographer based in Gordon’s Bay, just outside Cape Town, South Africa. Kate’s passion lies with sharing her love of the ocean and her underwater experiences with others through photography and storytelling. Kate is a regular contributor to numerous underwater photography and diving magazines, and her images have been featured in both local and international publications. She teaches underwater photography and is a qualified dive boat skipper and dive guide for Indigo Scuba Diving Centre, which she owns and runs with her husband. 
Renee Capozzola is an award-winning underwater photographer who specializes in wide-angle and split-level images. Her work is an intriguing combination of artistic talent honed through oil painting during her youth, a professional background in biology, and growing up by the ocean as a Southern Californian native. Her images have been awarded over 50 prestigious international accolades, including “Underwater Photographer of the Year 2021” in the Underwater Photographer of the Year competition and the “Female Fifty Fathoms Award” from Blancpain through the 2021 Ocean Photography Awards. Her work has also appeared throughout the world in leading online dive publications and in print, including National Geographic, and she has been featured by multiple news outlets. 
Tobias Friedrich resides in Germany and started taking pictures with a DSLR underwater in 2007. Since then his images have been published in prestigious scuba diving magazines and newspapers around the globe. Many underwater photography competitions have honored his work, resulting in over 50 awards with nearly 30 first places. In 2018, he was named Underwater Photographer of the Year in the prestigious London competition. Tobias also leads expeditions and workshops around the world.