Photo: Ian Lightfoot Photo: Paulo Mastinu Photo: Ken Sullivan Photo: Ken Sullivan Photo: Caudio Zori

Photographers from Sardinia, mainland Italy and the UK went head-to-head in the international Underwater Sardina 2005 competition. It was the seventh year of the event, run by Anthias Diving and Location Sardinia.

Both digital and slide entries were judged in four categories: portfolio, wide-angle, macro and beginners. Italian photographer Claudio Zori won the celebrated Portfolio Astrea D'oro award, a solid gold shell worth £4,000 and sponsored by the Alessandro Spano Association.

British photographer Ian Lightfoot, of Bristol, won the wide-angle section with a stunning shot of rocks and waves taken with his Olympus 5050 digital compact camera. Lightfoot has only been diving for two and a half years and taking photographs underwater for two years. He won a set of Mares dive kit, which included a Vector BC, Nemo computer and a membrane drysuit.

'I am incredibly pleased, humbled and appreciative of the advice and encouragement from the many new diving friends that I have made since taking the plunge just two and a half years ago', Lightfoot told DIVE.

The macro section was won by Paolo Mastinu with his action shot of a soldierfish, which narrowly beat British photographer Ken Sullivan's distinctive shots of a blenny and hermit crab. The beginners' section was a tie, with both Lorenzo di Turco and Franco Luche sharing the title.

Unlike UK splash-in events, underwater photographers took part in a practice day before the competition. This allowed entrants to become familiar with the chosen dive sites and to plan their photographic strategy for the day of the competition.

On each evening of the three-day event, competitors were invited to a selection of slide shows at the local marina. Next year's competition will be held in October 2006. For more information see websites http://www.anthiasdiving.com
or http://www.scuba-tours.co.uk . If you would like to take a photography course beforehand, expert Alan James will be running one on-site prior to the event. For details go to: http://www.marine-cameras.co.uk
.