If you love photographing life below the surface, the Northern Beaches Underwater Photography Competition is back for 2026. Entries open on Thursday 23 July and close on Sunday 16 August 2026, inviting photographers and videographers to capture the beauty and diversity of our local marine environment.

This year’s theme is Where Protection Brings Life, complementing World Ocean Day 2026 and its theme Strong Marine Protected Areas for our Blue Planet. The overall winner will receive the Valerie Taylor Underwater Photography Award for Excellence.

With a prize pool of $3,500, the competition is open to amateur and professional photographers and videographers of all skill levels. Entries can feature underwater images captured in any of the Northern Beaches’ 5 aquatic reserves, celebrating the rich marine life found along our coastline.

There are 7 themed categories, and entrants can submit one image or reel in a category. Finalists will also be shortlisted for the People’s Choice Award, with public voting available online from 27 August to 20 September 2026.

To help people build your skills, 3 immersive workshops will be held in the lead-up to the competition with award-winning photographer, former judge and past finalist Pete McGee. Sessions will run on Saturday 11 July at Fishermans Beach rock platform, Collaroy, Saturday 18 July for 12- to 17-year-old participants at Manly Library, and Saturday 1 August at North Narrabeen rock platform. For bookings visit the website.

Categories:

1. Behaviour: Capturing natural behaviour of marine life
2. Macro: Getting up close to the subject matter
3. Threated Species: Portraying the vulnerability of a threatened species found, for example: black rod cod, grey nurse shark, green turtle
4. Human Connection: Capturing the connection between a person/s and marine life (flora / fauna / megafauna), positive or negative. This could include monitoring citizen science projects or research undertaken in one of the Northern Beaches aquatic reserves.
5. Seascapes (wide angle): Capturing the raw beauty of the underwater vista in one of the Northern Beaches aquatic reserves.
6. Youth: For the young budding photographers aged 12 to 17 years old. The winner will be recognised as the Underwater Youth Photographer of the Year 2026.
7. Reels: Capturing the wonder of the biodiversity in our underwater world. Reel length is 15 to 30 seconds duration.

For more information about the competition, visit our website.