A venom-filled fireworm from Rio de Janeiro is the overall winner in the 2021 Underwater Photo Contest hosted by the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. The winning photographs can be viewed online and will be exhibited at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science (Frost Science) in Downtown Miami from Memorial Day through Labor Day weekend.
A call for entries is now open for the 2022 contest until September 26, with a new category offered that seeks to capture weather—from extreme to extraordinary. This new category is being sponsored by the UM Rosenstiel School-based Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies.
From Indonesia to Illinois, more than 800 photos were submitted to the 2021 contest highlighting the vastness of life under the sea.
The overall winning shot, taken by Ricardo Marques Dias at Arraial do Cabo in Brazil, shows the flaring white bristles of the poisonous bearded fireworm (Hermodice carunculata) that lives throughout the tropical western Atlantic as well as the mid-Atlantic feeding on soft and hard corals and small crustacean.
The other winning images showcase a diverse array of sea life, including a reticulated brittle star (Ophionereis reticulata) crawling on a red cushion sea star (Oreaster reticulatus) shot with a Canon 5D MIV, a school of migrating Munk’s Devil’s Rays (Mobula munkiana) taken with a Canon EOS R6 and a bottom-dwelling polka-dot batfish (Ogcocephalus radiatus), among many others.
UM graduate student Nola Schoder won first place in the student Macro, Fish and Animal Portrait and Marine Conservation categories. UM graduate student Victor B. Muñoz won first place in the student Wide Angle category.
Judged by a panel of professional photographers and marine scientists, photographs are divided into six separate categories. The contests are open to all amateur photographers who earn no more than 20 percent of their income from photography. Visit the UM Rosenstiel School website for official contest rules.
“We are blown away by the caliber of imagery taken on our Canon cameras for the 2021 Underwater Photo Contest, and congratulate all winners and participants for their tremendous efforts and skill,” said Lisa Gualtieri-Alford, vertical sales manager, Imaging Technologies & Communications Group (ITCG), Canon U.S.A. We are so grateful to collaborate once again with the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science on this exciting contest!
The UM Rosenstiel School’s 2021 Annual Underwater Photography Contest was generously supported by Canon USA and All Star Liveaboards Blackbeard Cruises. Since its inception in 2005, the contest has drawn several thousand entrants.
