The finalists for the 2026 Ocean Photographer of the Year competition have been announced, featuring coastal, drone, and underwater photographs selected from thousands of submissions. The competition, organised by Oceanographic Magazine, spans multiple categories including Wildlife, Fine Art, Adventure, Conservation, Human Connection, and Ocean Unseen. Winners are scheduled to be announced on 11 September, according to ABC News Australia.
Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 finalists revealed across multiple categories
The finalists for the 2026 Ocean Photographer of the Year competition have been announced, featuring coastal, drone, and underwater photographs selected from thousands of submissions. The competition, organised by Oceanographic Magazine, spans multiple categories including Wildlife, Fine Art, Adventure, Conservation, Human Connection, and Ocean Unseen. Winners are scheduled to be announced on 11 September, according to ABC News Australia.
Oceans cover 71 per cent of Earth, spanning 361 million square kilometres of water, according to ABC News Australia, which described the annual competition as a platform that also highlights the need to protect the world's oceans.
Will Harrison, identified by ABC News Australia as the founder and director of the contest, said the photographs 'don't just capture what's beneath the surface; they surface the stories our planet most needs us to hear.'
Among the Wildlife finalists noted by ABC News Australia are an image by Rafael Fernandez Caballero showing orcas carrying a humpback whale calf hunted in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico, and a shot by Josh Blank depicting two octopuses courting on a shallow coral reef at Lady Elliot Island on the Great Barrier Reef. The Atlantic highlights additional Wildlife finalists, including an image by Julien Anton of an adult seahorse with newly born juveniles in shallow waters off Moorea, French Polynesia, and a shot by Talia Greis of a juvenile weedy seadragon drifting among seagrass beneath Flinders Pier in Victoria, Australia.
In the Fine Art category, ABC News Australia notes entries including five spotted eagle rays gliding above a sandy seabed in Hawaii, photographed by John Kowitz, and two razorbills touching beaks during breeding season on Skomer Island, Wales, by Rachel Bigsby. The Atlantic highlights a Fine Art finalist by Ben Thouard showing a wave breaking off the coast of Tahiti, described in the accompanying caption as 'reminiscent of the famous print The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai,' and an image by Marko Dimitrijevic of a superpod of spinner dolphins swimming through deep water off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.
Adventure category finalists appearing in both sources include a free diver surrounded by a school of sardines in the Philippines, photographed by Ben Yávar, and dolphins riding waves alongside surfers at Tamarama Beach, Sydney, photographed by Gergo Rugli. The Atlantic adds that the dolphins reportedly stayed with the surfers for more than an hour. Additional Adventure finalists cited only by The Atlantic include an image by Daan Verhoeven of freediver Arnaud Jerald descending into Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas during a world record attempt at the Vertical Blue competition.
The Conservation (Impact) category, as described by ABC News Australia, includes an image by Celia Kujala of a California sea lion with plastic netting around its neck, and a shot by James Ferrara of a whale shark surrounded by divers in the Maldives illustrating pressures from crowded wildlife tourism. The Atlantic identifies a Conservation Impact finalist by Eduardo Santana de Vega showing an octopus inside a lobster pot off southwest England, with the caption noting that octopuses often enter pots to feed before escaping, and that a recent population boom linked to warming seas is reshaping local ecosystems.
Conservation (Hope) finalists cited by ABC News Australia include European lobsters being raised at the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow, Cornwall, before release into the wild, photographed by Francesca Page, and images by Leighton Lum of a Hawaiian monk seal resting with its week-old pup and of Hawaiian green sea turtles in a sea cave on Maui.
The Ocean Unseen category features, across both sources, a harlequin crab tending a cluster of orange eggs at the entrance of a tubular sponge, photographed by Andrea Michelutti. ABC News Australia also highlights a pygmy seahorse described as no larger than a grain of rice, clinging to a hydroid in the reefs of Raja Ampat, Indonesia, photographed by Iris Uijttewaal. The Atlantic adds finalists including a translucent shrimp within a green tunicate in Tulamben, Indonesia, by Maryline Renault, and a male Banggai cardinalfish sheltering juveniles in its mouth, by Suliman Alatiqi.
In the Human Connection category, ABC News Australia notes an image by Liu Xuzhong of shellfish collectors crossing the mudflats of the Yellow Sea. The Atlantic includes a Human Connection finalist by Qingsheng Sun depicting thousands of fish-farming cages stretching across the sea to form what the caption describes as 'a vast floating community.'
Where sources differ
- ABC News Australia dates the announcement to 14 August 2026, while The Atlantic dates its publication of the finalists to 13 August 2026; the sources do not clarify whether the announcement itself occurred on different dates or whether publication timing differs by outlet.
- ABC News Australia lists an image by Ajiex Dharma of a Hingeback Cleaning Shrimp against a pink barrel sponge as a Fine Art finalist, while The Atlantic attributes an image by Ajiex Dharma of a tiny urchin shrimp among sea urchin spines to the Ocean Unseen: Hidden Worlds category; it is unclear whether these are two separate images by the same photographer entered in different categories, or a discrepancy in category attribution.
- The total number of submissions from which finalists were selected is not specified by either source.
- The full list of finalists across all categories is not provided by either source; both present a selection only.
- The judging criteria and identity of judges are not described in either source.
- The prize or recognition awarded to winners is not detailed in either source.
- It is not established whether the Ajiex Dharma entries listed under different categories in the two sources are one image or two distinct photographs.
- ABC News Australia — original
- The Atlantic — by Alan Taylor
Read the original at ABC News Australia