UPY 2021

Underwater Photographer of the Year 2021

UPY 2021 is now open for entries and closes on 5th January 2021.

Nobody needs reminding that 2020 has not been a normal year, but we are happy to confirm UPY 2021 is now open for entries, although with a few changes.

We are well aware that international travel has been restricted, but many photographers have still been able to dive more locally or had time to dive into their archives and find some hidden gems. While we expect that entry numbers will be down, we also expect some categories to be even stronger. We’ve introduced a new My Backyard Award to celebrate images taken close to home, wherever that may be.

Out of respect and support for the diving industry, UPY 2021 will not offer prizes. Please see a full explanation on the Prizes page.

We hope you will fully support this decision as the right thing for our community to do. We’ve kept all their logos on our website as a thank you for their support in the past.

As 2020 has taught us, expecting anything to run exactly as planned is a fool’s game. We hope that UPY 2021 runs to its normal schedule, but you can rest assured that we will respond responsibly and keep you informed at every stage if changes occur.

The whole UPY team is very excited that we can proceed with UPY 2021 and we know many of you have been eagerly waiting for us to open. All the previous UPY contests have been very special, this year will be doubly so. We are a community and in these extreme times, it is even more important that we have the chance to come together and celebrate our passions.