Since its inception in 2005, the contest has drawn entrants from across the globe submitting more than 400 images per year. Photographs are judged in five separate categories: Fish or Marine Animal Portrait, Macro, Wide Angle, Student, and Best Overall. The winning images are announced at one of the Rosenstiel School’s Sea Secrets lectures and are displayed in a traveling exhibit throughout the South Florida community.
The University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School was founded by Dr. F. G. Walton Smith in 1943. Today it has grown to become one of the premier oceanographic research and education institutions in the world and is the only subtropical, applied and basic marine and atmospheric research institute of its kind in the continental United States. Through excellence in research and education, the Rosenstiel School is helping the world better understand some of today’s most pressing environmental issues, including sea level and climate change, fisheries sustainability, oceans and human health, hurricanes, and coral reef health.
High level of competition, very well known underwater photographers and excellent choices from the judges are the factors that resulted in a colorful and stunning set of winning images.