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UnderwaterPhoto Contests
OpenUnderwater · Online

World Shootout

World Shootout 2025–2026 · by World Shootout (producer David Pilosof) (opens in a new tab)

Time left to enter

17DAYS
03HRS
11MIN
53SEC

Closes

  • Closes 01 NOV
  • Fee from €15
  • Cats 7
Enter on the official site (opens in a new tab) Add to calendar Rules (opens in a new tab)

Online international underwater photo and video competition that grew out of the Eilat Red Sea Shootout (2005), with portfolio, single-image, technique and amateur categories and winners presented at the boot Düsseldorf show in Germany.

Key dates

  1. Final deadline

  2. Ceremony

    Jan 2027

  • Cutoff for the "Legacy in Two Decades" anniversary selections: Tue 30 Dec 2025
  • Semi-finals: Wed 25 Nov 2026
  • Finals and Best Picture of the Year: Fri 25 Dec 2026

Capture window: 2024-11-02 → 2026-11-01

Entry fees

Entry options and prices
Best 5 Images – 1 set (5 images)€35
Best 5 Images – 2 sets (10 images)€45
Best 5 Images – 3 sets (15 images)€55
Wide Angle or Macro – 1 set€25
Wide Angle or Macro – 2 sets€35
Wide Angle or Macro – 3 sets€45
Amateurs – 1 set€15
Amateurs – 2 sets€20
Amateurs – 3 sets€25
Video Clip – 1 entry€45

Fees are per category, by number of sets. The Best Picture of the Year fee was not clearly stated in the sources read.

Prizes

Best Picture of the Year — Andromeda statuette and €2,000, chosen by the boot Düsseldorf director from 10 nominees

  • cash
  • dive trips
  • gear

First prizes of €1,000 are listed for Macro, Wide Angle and Amateurs.

Categories

  • Best 5 Images

    Portfolio

  • Best Picture of the Year

    Open

  • Wide Angle

    Wide-angle

  • Macro

    Macro

  • Amateurs

    Newcomer

  • Environmental & Conservation

    Conservation

  • Video Clip

    Video

Who can enter

Open to
Open to all

Entrants must have taken the images themselves.

Rules at a glance

Editing
Minimal adjustments onlyColour/contrast tweaks, backscatter removal and cropping of up to 15% only; nothing that changes the scene. Upload JPEGs up to 1,500 px; semi-finalists must send RAW and JPEG originals.
AI-generated images
Banned
AI-assisted editing
Banned
RAW files
Required from finalists

Entries can be disqualified for ethical or environmental violations.

Your image rights

Standard licence

Entries may be used to cover and promote the event and kept in the organiser's archive; photographers are credited where applicable.

Licence
Contest promotion only
Duration
Not specified
Commercial use by organiser
No
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).

Research notes

Combined competition created after the 2025 event was postponed (2025 fees refunded); covers images taken over two years. Registration and uploads close at midnight on 1 November 2026 (timezone not stated; the producer is Israel-based, so Asia/Jerusalem is assumed). The site gives two ceremony dates at boot Düsseldorf, 25 and 30 January 2027, so the month is recorded. Photos entered by 30 December 2025 were also eligible for 20th-anniversary selections. Search extracts suggested some rules text may date from an earlier year. Direct page fetches were blocked in this research session, so official pages were read through search-engine extracts.

Provenance

Verified · 5 sources

  1. Rules (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
  2. Time table (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
  3. Register (fees) (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
  4. Best Picture of 2025–2026 (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
  5. Important update regarding the World Shootout competition (X-Ray Mag, organiser press release) (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15

All editions

  1. World Shootout 2025–2026closes Sun 1 Nov 2026Open
  2. World Shootout 2024closed Fri 1 Nov 2024Results out3 judges Results (opens in a new tab)