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This year's British Underwater Image Festival sponsored by Cameras Underwater produced another fantastic crop of photographs, DIVE takes a look at the winners

This year's British Underwater Image Festival sponsored by Cameras Underwater produced another fantastic crop of photographs, DIVE takes a look at the winners

Choosing winners for this year's British Underwater Image Festival (BUIF) proved a challenging task, as the proportion of first class entries was greater than ever across all the sections. In total, there were 750 individual entries from 17 different countries. BUIF presentations are due to made at the Divefest event held at Pentewan Sands, Cornwall on Sunday 2 May.

Print section
As has been the case in previous years, the CPS Portfolio section gave the judges the most difficult choice. The remit for this section is very simple; it is left to the photographer to decide whether to enter a personal 'best-of', or a selection that is themed by subject, colour or technique. A decision on the running order took some time, but in the end we decided that Keri Wilk's painstaking use of alternative lighting techniques made his entry, 'Ambon' stand out from the crowd.

In second place was Peter Tatton's atmospheric black and white photographs of a deep wreck, the Germaine, off the Cornish coast - his fascination with the subject material was evident in every shot. Warren Baverstock's set of whale sharks from Djibouti was a popular choice for third place, each image showing a different perspective of this iconic fish.

Mega-fauna dominated the PADI Compact section, suggesting that digi-compacts are now fast enough to capture big animals on the move. The judges were impressed with the graphic simplicity of Jo Mahy's turtle portrait, though it was a very close-run thing with David Nurse's epic manta ray image, which was placed second.

A raft of high-quality entries in the Apeks British section also prompted long discussion among the judges, but it was felt that Dan Bolt's extraordinary image of a John Dory being cleaned by a spider crab was the standout achievement. His image provides a unique insight into the life of this enigmatic fish. Freshwater photographs were a common theme this year, and Tony Gilbert's vivid portrait of a sturgeon was a popular choice for second place, with Gavin Parson's helmet diver coming in third.

The Sea & Sea Open section was the closest-fought of the prints categories; the judges thought the overall standard was the highest they had seen at BUIF, and several commendations were made in addition to the top three awards. Jeffrey de Guzman's super-macro shrimp portrait impressed with its sharpness and detail, but was pushed into third place by Dennis Vandermeersh's dramatic photograph of a shark swimming over a shipwreck, which came second.

After much discussion, the judges settled on Sterling Zumbrunn's dynamic scene of Atlantic dolphins at night for first place. Thematically, this was familiar ground - many photographers on board the Shearwater liveaboard have had the opportunity to photograph dolphins feeding on flying fish in the Gulf Stream off Florida. However, it is a difficult photograph to execute well with a single dolphin, let alone three moving quickly, and in complete darkness. The image benefits from well-directed lighting and the cameraman's instinctive framing - a worthy winner in the open section.

PRINT

Sea & Sea Open Category Award
First: Sterling Zumbrunn (USA) wins a £800 voucher to spend on Sea & Sea products
Second: Dennis Vandermeersch (BEL) wins a £450 voucher to spend on Sea & Sea products
Third: Jeffrey de Guzman (PHI) wins wins a £300 voucher to spend on Sea & Sea products

Highly Commended
Scott Portelli (AUS)

Highly Commended
Michael Gallagher (GBR)

Highly Commended
Dan Bolt (GBR)

Highly Commended
Keri Wilk (CAN)

PADI Digital Underwater Photographer Award
First: Joanne Mahy (GBR) wins a £500 cheque from PADI
Second: David Nurse (GER) wins a £300 cheque from PADI
Third: Leena Roy (GBR) wins a £200 cheque from PADI

Highly Commended
Arjette Scheick (BEL)

APEKS British Award
First: Dan Bolt (GBR) wins an Apeks Flight regulator set, worth £484.30
Second: Tony Gilbert (GBR) wins an Apeks Flight regulator, worth £359.14
Third: Gavin Parsons (GBR) wins an Apeks ATX40/DS4 regulator, worth £194.13

CPS Portfolio Award
First: Keri Wilk (CAN) wins Tusa RS-240 reg plus SS-20 octopus, worth £370
Second: Peter Tatton (GBR) wins a Seahorse waterproof laptop case, worth £220
Third: Warren Baverstock (UAE) wins a Tusa IQ-650 computer, worth £196

Hot Shot Image of the Year

Bob Anthony (GBR) wins a £100 cheque from DIVE magazine

DVD

Mares Professional DVD Award
First: Beyond the limits by David Perez (ESP) wins a Mares Prestige package, worth £1,009.80, including: Prestige 22 NTT regulator, Prestige NTT octopus, Prestige MRS Plus BC, Puck 2 computer and console
Second: Magic Blue Wave by Liquid Motion Film (GBR) wins a Mares Abyss package, worth £519.90, including: Mares Abyss 22 regulator, Mares Abyss octopus regulator
Third: Aspiring Depths by Blue Eye FX (GBR) wins a Puck Mission 3 computer and gauge, worth £309.95

Scuba Travel Amateur DVD Award
First: Alien rhythm by Kris Wilk (CAN) wins a liveaboard trip on Sea Serpent worth £1095
Second: Swimming with gentle giants 2009 by Scott Portelli (AUS) wins a £250 Scuba Travel voucher
Third: Feeding Frenzy by Englock Ng (SIN) wins a £150 Scuba Travel voucher
Commended: Qatar by Mike Sharland

The A.P.Valves British DVD Award
First: Magic beneath the waves by Ben Burville (GBR) wins a special-edition Commando TD40 BC, worth £392
Second: Cornish treasures by Jo Horrocks (GBR) wins a Buddy Nexus air/nitrox dive computer, worth £359
Third: Built to last by Andy Jackson (GBR) wins a Buddy SMBC (red/yellow), worth £98

SPLASH-IN

Wide Angle Category
First: Dan Bolt (GBR) wins a £200 voucher to spend at Cameras Underwater
Second: Rob Bailey (GBR) wins a £100 voucher to spend at Cameras Underwater
Third: Dan Bolt (GBR) wins a DIVE magazine goody bag
Highly Commended: Ben Tolcher (GBR)

Fish Portrait Category
First: Arthur Kingdon (GBR) wins a £200 voucher to spend at Cameras Underwater
Second: Trevor Rees (GBR) wins a £100 voucher to spend at Cameras Underwater
Third: Arthur Kingdon (GBR) wins a DIVE magazine goody bag

Close-up Category
First: Arthur Kingdon (GBR) wins a £200 voucher to spend at Cameras Underwater
Second: Rob Bailey (GBR) wins a £100 voucher to spend at Cameras Underwater
Third: Dan Bolt (GBR) wins a DIVE magazine goody bag

Click on image to view full size.

SEA & SEA OPEN CATEGORY
Sea & Sea Open Category Winner Sterling Zumbrunn USA	Sea & Sea Open Category Runner-up Dennis Vandermeersch BEL	Sea & Sea Open Category Third Jeffrey de Guzman PHI
Sea & Sea Open Category Highly Commended Scott Portelli AUS	Sea & Sea Open Category Highly Commended Michael Gallagher GBR	Sea & Sea Open Category Highly Commended Dan Bolt GBR
Sea & Sea Open Category Highly Commended Keri Wilk CAN
PADI DIGITAL UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHER CATEGORY
PADI Digital Underwater Photographer Category Winner Joanne Mahy GBR	PADI Digital Underwater Photographer Category Runner-up David Nurse GBR	PADI Digital Underwater Photographer Category Third Leena Roy GBR
PADI Digital Underwater Photographer Category Highly Commended Arjette Scheick BEL
APEKS BRITISH CATEGORY
Apeks British Photographer Winner Dan Bolt GBR	Apeks British Photographer Runner-up Tony Gilbert GBR	Apeks British Photographer Third Gavin Parsons GBR
CPS PORTFOLIO CATEGORY
CPS Portfolio Category Winner Keri Wilk CAN	CPS Portfolio Category Runner-up Peter Tatton GBR	CPS Portfolio Category Third Warren Baverstock UAE
HOT SHOT OF THE YEAR
DIVE magazine Hotshot of the Year Voted for by the public Winner Bob Anthony GBR
BUIF SPLASH IN - WIDE ANGLE
Wide Angle Winner Dan Bolt GBR	Wide Angle Runner-up Robert Bailey GBR	Wide Angle Third Dan Bolt GBR
Wide Angle Commended Ben Tolcher GBR
BUIF SPLASH IN - FISH PORTRAIT
Fish Portrait Winner Arthur Kingdon GBR	Fish Portrait Runner-up Trevor Rees GBR	Wide Angle Third Arthur Kingdon GBR
BUIF SPLASH IN - MACRO
Close-up Winner Arthur Kingdon GBR	Close-up Runner-up Rob Bailey GBR	Close-up Third Dan Bolt GBR

THE SPONSORS

DVD
Winning film clips to follow shortly.