Competition rules

The full competition rules. These are regularly reviewed and may have changed since last year's competition.

Competition rules

All photos in the 12 main categories must be taken underwater (split-level images are permitted as long as a part of image is underwater). Photos for the British Categories (categories 10-12) must be taken in the waters of the UK.
Photos in the 'Save Our Seas Foundation' Marine Conservation Photographer of the Year category can be taken above and below the surface.
Category 8 (Up & Coming) is open ONLY to photographers who have never won an underwater photography award, or had their work published (by 1st November 2024), or are a brand ambassador for an underwater equipment manufacturer. Please do not ask the competition organisers, you must decide if you fit the definition of Up & Coming, that aims to celebrate new talent.
Category 9 is for photos taken with 'compact' type underwater cameras. We define compacts as a classic compact, phone or action camera. Any photographer can enter this category, but only each photographer’s highest placed image will be awarded, meaning 10 different photographers will be awarded. Images that are not awarded may be re-entered in future years.
Upon paying the entry fee of either £20 GBP, £35 GBP or £45 GBP, photographers may enter up to 3, up to 10 or up to 20 images across the categories. Payment is via PayPal only.
There is no fee to enter the 'Save Our Seas Foundation' Marine Conservation Photographer of the Year - but there is a limit of 5 images (these are in addition to any paid-for images you may enter into the other categories)
There is no fee to enter the Category 12 - British Waters Living Together - but there is a limit of 5 images (these are in addition to any paid-for images you may enter into the other categories)
The deadline for entries will be announced when we open the UPY2025 competition. We never extend our deadline and judging always commences as soon as possible after this date.
All photos must be the work of the photographer entering.
Images taken on a ‘compact’ type camera can be entered into any category.
Do not enter the same image into more than one category.
Photos must not be more than three years old on the opening date of the competition (ie: must have been taken after 1st November 2021).
Any images that have been awarded in major competitions or widely seen in publication or social media remain eligible, but are much less likely to win favour with the judges. Most successful images in UPY have been saved by photographers for UPY and often go on and win other awards afterwards.
For simplicity, there are no restrictions on post processing performed by the photographer. However, this is not a Photoshop contest and winning images are all RAW file checked to ensure the final shot represents the reality of what was captured. The exception to this is where post processing has been used obviously to create an original artistic work. Black and white images are accepted in all categories, but are more likely to be successful in the Black & White category.
AI generated images and AI generated image content is strictly forbidden.
Cropping is permitted, but winning images must still have sufficient resolution for the production of our exhibition prints. Photographers placing in the top 10 in each category will be asked to provide higher resolution files before the results are announced.
You must ensure that metadata (EXIF information) remains embedded in your image file and should not be removed. Any images without metadata are unlikely to be successful.
The judges’ decision on all matters is final (even if their decision contravenes one of the rules above). UPY is a very open competition and judges are happy to discuss their approach to judging face to face, but do not invite discussion or correspondence on specific judging decisions.

Artificially generated images

AI generated images are not permitted in UPY.
The UPY team will request RAW files for all shortlisted files, specifically to check for AI generated content (for example sky/background replacement).
RAW files of shortlisted images will be requested by the judges on 10th January and must be submitted by 18th January. If you think you will be offline during these dates please contact UPY before the closing date of the contest.
If you did not shoot RAW then you can submit original camera JPGs, but JPGs are likely to be checked much more carefully by judges.
All entered images must have the camera EXIF data embedded. This allows judges to verify how an image was taken, to help guard against AI images.
Any entrant deliberately cheating by entering AI generated images will be banned from all future UPY contests, whether they are identified during judging or after the announcement of results.
We reserve the right to publish any such disqualified images and name the entrant on our website and in the media.

See additional information about the use of AI.

“It is important to stress that UPY has always allowed photographers to express your creativity through processing. We allow cleaning of backscatter, removal of UFOs (Unwanted Floating Objects – like your buddy’s fin) and digital manipulation as long as it is you at the helm of the Photoshop or Lightroom controls. We are also OK with the use of AI noise reduction tools etc. The RAW file check is to prevent images where AI software has been used to generation the entire picture or new content within the frame."
- Alex Mustard

Translations

There are online translation tools available but please be aware they can sometimes make mistakes. Please check with the organisers if something does not make sense in the rules after translation.

Image usage

The copyright of all images will remain with the photographer.
UPY reserves the right to reproduce the best images royalty free, but only in connection with sharing the competition results and promoting the Underwater Photographer of the Year contest. Photos will always be used with credit to the photographer (e.g. "Saeed Rashid/UPY 2024" etc).
We hope, and you can expect, that many publications and our sponsors will showcase the results of this competition and benefit the photographers with high profile exposure for your talents.
Entrants into one of the sponsored categories should expect to have their images used for media campaigns relating to the competition by the sponsoring organisation. The copyright of the image will always remain with the photographer.

Preparing Images

Our bespoke entry form will rename your files so that judging remains anonymous.
All entries must be resized to 2000 pixels in the longest dimension (at 300dpi).
Images should be entered as JPG files, saved at best quality.
Colour space should ideally be Adobe 1998 RGB, however the judging will use software that can read any standard colour profile.
UK Photographers: please mark the boxes on the entry form if you are eligible for the British photographer and/or the Most Promising photographer awards.
Please contact us through the contact form if you have any queries.
DO NOT watermark images with your name. Judging must be anonymous and your images will be excluded.
Only simple, English character filenames are allowed. Please use simple names such as: wideangle1.jpg.
All entered images must have the camera EXIF data embedded (please note: copyright, location and keyword data will not be seen by the judges).

Your Information

While we have required you to enter using your email address, we will NEVER share this with anyone outside the organisers.
We will only contact you with regard to this competition, and for no other reason.
At no point will we hold any payment information, which will be handled by PayPal.
Please see our privacy policy for more details

Points Make Prizes

The competition is open to all photographers: professionals and amateurs. A single photographer can win all the categories they enter. A single photographer, can theoretically win all the special awards, if they eligible for them all.

Each photographer will receive points for each photo that places in the top 10 position in a category, with the exceptions of positions where fixed prizes are offered and categories that are free to enter (more details below). We judge all images into an ordered top 10, although the results are reported as Winner, Runner Up, Third Place, Highly Commended (x4) & Commended (x3).

In categories have fixed prizes and paid entry, points are given for the placings that do not have a fixed prize. There is no limit to how many fixed prizes a photographer can win. See Prize Page for more details on allocation.

The overall Underwater Photographer of the Year is awarded a nominal 1000 points, ensuring this photographer always has first choice of the prize pool, in addition to any fixed prizes won.

Thereafter the photographer with the most points (in total across all categories) will get the next choice from the prize pool, then the photographer with the next highest points total will get next choice, and so on until the prize pool is exhausted. This system has two advantages, first winners get to choose the prizes they want. And second more individuals will take home prizes from the festival.

The 7 main international categories (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) will award points for the top 10 places as follows: 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1. Category 8 has fixed prizes for the podium, and there are no points for places 1, 2 and 3, while 4th to 10th will score 12-10-8-6-4-2-1.

The other categories (excluding 12 UK Waters Living Together and Marine Conservation) will award less points as these categories typically attract fewer entrants and places are often dominated by a relatively small number of photographers. Points will be as follows: 13-11-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, except where there are fixed podium prizes and 4th to 10th in the category will score 7-6-5-4-3-2-1.

It is possible for an entrant to have an image placed in UPY but not win a prize as there can be more winning photographers that there are prizes in the pool.

UPY 2025