Out of the Blue Commonwealth Photography Competition

[From the INDEEP mailing list]

‘Out of the Blue’ announces cash prize for winning entries

 ‘Out of the Blue’ – the new ocean-focused photography competition launched on World Oceans Day by The Prince of Wales – has announced that winning images will receive cash prizes at a special Award Ceremony in Malta in November 2015.

In addition to the Out of the Blue Award, the overall winner of the competition will receive £5,000. The winning entrant will receive their Award as part of a high-level ceremony in the margins of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta. In addition, each category winner will receive £1,000.

On 8th June at an event for World Oceans Day, The Prince of Wales encouraged Commonwealth citizens to submit photographs that highlight the huge value of the ocean to humankind as well as the considerable challenges that it faces.  Almost half of Commonwealth countries are island states whose future prosperity is inextricably linked to the future of the ocean.  The competition categories are aimed at encouraging entries that portray the beauty and bounty of the ocean; the ways in which we are dependent upon it; and the impact that humans can have on the ocean should our activities go unchecked.

Entries can be submitted through the competition website (www.outofthebluecompetition.com) until 6^th September. A panel of high-profile judges made up of professional photographers and marine experts will select winners and finalists in three categories. Two Highly Commended awards will also be given to the best smart phone entry and to the entry that receives the highest number of public ‘likes’ on the Out of the Blue website. All winning and finalist entries will be included in an exhibition to be shown in the margins of this year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta in November.

Hanli Prinsloo, ocean advocate and founder of I am Water, and one of the competition’s esteemed judges said: “It’s a great privilege for me to be involved in this year’s ‘Out of the Blue’ photography awards. I am a passionate ocean lover and a firm believer in the power of stories, of images that captivate, transport and inspire us. My greatest inspiration is the ocean, so Out of the Blue brings together some of my favourite things!”

The competition is a collaboration between The Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit (ISU), The Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) and National Geographic’s Pristine Seas initiative.