SanDisk RedSea Underwater Photo Competition 2006 Live Webcast

The annual SanDisk RedSea International Underwater Photo Competition is close to finalizing. Most competitors were busy to get their gear ready for travelling home, while we enjoyed another dive at the Satil Wreck. David "Pilo" Pilosof showed up around noon and announced with a big smile that "We have a winner". That got even the coolest competitors a little bit tensed. From there on everybody couldn’t wait for the ceremony to start. It was scheduled for 19:30 o’clock. The day was stretched into infinity, it seemed.

After all entries had been submitted into the contest it was about time to reveal the members of the international jury. Overall there were seven jurors from four different countries, all male. The members of the jury in this year were:

• Ariel Fuchs from France
• Yon Fethear from Israel
• Roni Soffer from Israel
• Usko Pokila from Finland
• Daniel Marcier from France
• Shlomo Cohen from Israel
• Alberto Muru Pickolini from Italy

According to non-official information the jurors were very serious about their job. We heard some rumours that they passionately argued about each single score. With the comparably high budget-responsibility they had, we can only appreciate this, as well as the fact that the jurors were not officially announced prior to the contest.

Is there an Oscar for underwater photographers? If yes, than this ceremony was pretty close to it, regarding general structure and efforts the team put in the multimedia presentation. The ceremony host had the talent to get the audience really exited. The competition had no second or third prices as usual. However there were lots of special awards, such as the "Judges Award" and the "Mayor of Eilat Award” for the best "Album Cover”. We should mention at this point, that there will be an album with all excellent images from the contest. Shortly after it has been printed we will help distributing it to interested underwater photographers around the world. If you want to obtain one of the limited copies, please show up in our forums. For each price there were five nominees, which made the event appear even more like the Oscars for underwater photography. The prices from the "Images of the World” categories went to, Burkhardt Ohlendorf for the best five slides and to (the Antibes Frog of) Martin Tomcick for the Best Color Print. The unbelievable lump sum of 10,000 USD and a Trip to Papua New Guinea was received by Noam Kortler from Israel. Boaz Samorai won the "Judges Award" and also the prize for the "Best Album Cover" with a portrait of a Lionfisch. Boaz is – according to our opinion – the perfect example for the fact that big gear does not guarantee great images. All his winning shots were produced with a small Nikon Coolpix 7900. A journey to Palau and the 1,000 cans of beer went to Amir Stern from Israel. He took a winning shot of a yawning red frogfish, a moment he had been patient for no less than 87 minutes in the water.

After he donated his 1,000 cans of beer to the crowd, the evening took a wet and amusing shift on the beach. Jurors and competitors were sighted on a wild Techno-Party. Some of them even went for a spontaneous night-swim. How many of their clothing was left on the beach should stay undocumented by any camera. All winning shots and more pictures from the ceremony can be found in our Online-Album.

The international SanDisk RedSea Underwater Photography Competition shall return in 2007 and is foreseen to happen in November. DIGIDEEP.com will inform about the final dates as soon as they are confirmed. We also look forward to compete in Eilat for another round and do another live webcast from the shootout. Meanwhile we are awaiting your comments on this report which is about to close and hope you have enjoyed reading it it! See you next year in Eilat…

Lars & Andi

[more photos] [all competition entries]

Winner "Best Portfolio"

Noam Kortler [Israel]

[Gallery]

Winner "Best Single Entry"

Amir Stern [Israel]

[Gallery]

Winner "Judges Prize"

Boaz Samorai [Israel]

[Gallery]

Winner "Album Cover"

Boaz Samorai [Israel]

[Gallery]

Winner "Best Color Print"

Martin Tomcik [Slovakia]

[Gallery]

Winner "Best Portfolio"

Burkhard Outlendort [Germany]


[Gallery]

• Final call for Celebrate the Sea 2008 Competition
• SanDisk RedSea 2007 - Report & Results
• SanDisk Red-Sea 2007 Competition Invitation
• SanDisk RedSea 2007 photo and video competition