Underwater Awards Australasia 2026 has celebrated a striking collection of marine photography and film, with a seal gliding through a kelp forest and a juvenile whale shark surrounded by divers among the winning and shortlisted images.
The overall prize went to Australian filmmaker Kat dos Remedios, whose short film Dragon won the Reels Showcase category and was named Best of Show. Filmed in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, the work focuses on the endangered-looking beauty of weedy seadragons and includes footage of newly hatched animals.
The winners were announced at the Go Diving Show ANZ in Sydney on 5 September, bringing the third edition of the competition to a close. Entries were judged across nine categories, with prizes worth almost A$70,000, including diving trips, underwater camera equipment and specialist gear.
Underwater Awards Australasia winners
Annika Dahlberg won the Conservation category for Trapped in the Blue, photographed in Niue, while Talia Greis took the Sydney category with Dragon Clinger, captured at Kurnell.
Jake Wilton’s image Coastal Hunters, showing bottlenose dolphins working together to herd a school of parrotfish at Ningaloo Reef, won the Australian category. Simone Caprodossi took International Waters with Crowded Spotlight, photographed in Djibouti.
Other category winners included Giacomo Marchione, whose portfolio The Invisible was photographed in the Philippines; Enrico Somogyi, who won Smartphone/Action Cam with Halimeda Ghostpipe; Qian Kun, whose Anemone Tenant took the Tough TG prize; and Tom Healy, whose split-level seascape The Best of Both Worlds won Only Water.
The competition was organised by DivePhotoGuide, Underwater Australasia and UW Images. Finalist photographs were displayed as metal prints at the Sydney show, alongside the winning films and images from locations including the Great Barrier Reef, Antarctica, Indonesia and the South Coast of New South Wales.
Half of the proceeds from the print exhibition will go to the Australian Marine Conservation Society and Take 3 for the Sea. The winning images are also due to feature in the 2028 Australian Marine Conservation Society calendar, with sales supporting marine conservation.
