Entries closed
Results are out
- Closed 01 DEC
- Fee from $10
- Cats 10
- Prizes $85K
You're viewing a past edition. See DPG Masters 2026 →
Key dates
Final deadline
Results
- Finalists' RAW / original file submission window opens: Tue 16 Dec 2025
- Finalists' RAW / original file deadline: Thu 18 Dec 2025
Entry fees
| Per image or video | $10 |
|---|
Non-refundable. DPG says 15% of entry proceeds go to marine conservation.
Prizes
$85,000approx. total value
Title of DPG Grand Master 2025 (Best of Show)
- dive trips
- gear
- other
Prize pool advertised as more than $85,000 in trips and gear; judges also each picked a Mentor Prize winner.
Categories
Unrestricted
OpenOpen-ended category with few limits on post-processing (generative AI still banned).
Traditional
OpenRestriction: Only global brightness, contrast, colour and sharpness adjustments; no cropping, cloning or spot removal.
Macro
MacroRestriction: Macro lens at 1:10 reproduction ratio or closer.
Wide Angle
Wide-angleRestriction: Lens of 35mm or wider (full-frame equivalent).
Over-Under
Split-levelConservation
ConservationImages that carry a message about a marine or freshwater environmental issue.
Cold Water
Cold waterCompact
Compact & mobileRestriction: Compacts, smartphones and action cameras only; interchangeable-lens cameras excluded (wet conversion lenses fine).
Portfolio
PortfolioRestriction: Six images.
Short Film
VideoRestriction: Up to five minutes, at least half filmed underwater.
Who can enter
- Open to
- Open to all
Rules at a glance
- AI-generated images
- Banned
- RAW files
- Required from finalists
- Previously awarded images
- Not allowed
- Wildlife ethics
- Entrants must not harm animals or damage habitats to get an image.
Images that won a major photo or video contest before 1 September 2025 were ineligible.
Your image rights
Standard licenceYou keep copyright and are credited, but grant an irrevocable non-exclusive licence to reproduce, publish, exhibit and share your entry, including in exhibitions and in magazines or websites the organiser or its partners endorse; the list of uses is not exhaustive.
- Licence
- Broad, non-exclusive
- Duration
- Perpetual (The licence is described as irrevocable.)
- Credit promised
- Yes
How "Standard licence" is decided
- Read carefully: the entrant grants an exclusive licence or transfers rights, or the organiser may use entries commercially (sell, license, use in paid products).
- Photographer-friendly: use is limited to promoting the contest, there is no commercial use by the organiser, and credit is promised.
- Standard: everything in between — typically a broad non-exclusive licence for marketing without commercial resale.
This is our plain-language summary, not legal advice. Read the official terms before entering: official rules & terms (opens in a new tab).
Judges
- Nicolas Remy · Jury chair
- Jennifer Hayes
- Álvaro Herrero (Mekan)
- Jill Heinerth
- Aaron Wong
- Kate Jonker
Research notes
Separate from ADEX Voice of the Ocean, although both run on DPG's Underwater Competition platform. Over 2,000 entries; Yuka Takahashi (Japan) was named DPG Grand Master 2025 for a wide-angle humpback whale image. The launch date (around October 2025) was not stated explicitly. The winners page mentions nine image categories while the rules list eight photo categories plus Short Film; Compact appears on the winners page. Direct page fetches were blocked in this research session, so official pages were read through search-engine extracts.
Provenance
Verified · 4 sources
- DPG Masters 2025 rules (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
- Announcing the DPG Masters Underwater Imaging Competition 2025 (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
- DPG Masters 2025 Competition Winners Announced (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
- DPG Masters 2025 Mentor Prize Winners Announced (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
All editions
- DPG Masters 2026≈ early Dec 2026Expected
- DPG Masters 2025closed Mon 1 Dec 2025Results out6 judges Results (opens in a new tab)