Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 Finalists Announced
The Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 competition has announced its finalists, showcasing the full spectrum of ocean life and our duty to protect it.
The Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 competition has announced its finalists, featuring thousands of extraordinary images from the world's finest ocean photographers.
These photographs showcase the full spectrum of ocean life, from drone, coastal, underwater, and conservation perspectives. The category winners will be announced in September 2026 alongside the overall Ocean Photographer of the Year.
The finalists share a remarkable body of work that honours the ocean in all its complexity - its wonder, its fragility, and the urgent need to protect it. Standout images include two orcas working together to carry away a humpback whale calf, a scorpionfish devouring a lizardfish, and a male octopus courting a female.
## New Categories and Perspectives
New for 2026, the Ocean Unseen: Hidden Worlds category turns the lens to the ocean's smallest and least-seen inhabitants. From delicate invertebrates to microscopic life forms visible only at close range, the finalists reveal a dimension of the ocean rarely glimpsed, but no less vital for it.
| Category | Description | | --- | --- | | Ocean Unseen: Hidden Worlds | The ocean's smallest and least-seen inhabitants | | Human Connection | Our species' enduring relationship with the sea | | Adventure | Powerful stories of seagrass restoration projects and puffin rehabilitation centres |
The Human Connection and Adventure categories explore our species' enduring relationship with the sea, from powerful stories of seagrass restoration projects and puffin rehabilitation centres, to freedivers plunging to eye-popping depths and surfers suffering comically-timed wipeouts.
## Conservation and Resilience
In the Conservation Impact category, you are witness to the damage the ocean continues to face, including stories of overfishing and bycatch, the toll plastic pollution takes on marine mammals, and the killing of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands.
| Category | Description | | --- | --- | | Conservation Impact | The damage the ocean continues to face | | Conservation Hope | Photographs of resilience and recovery |
The Conservation Hope category, on the other hand, showcases photographs of resilience and recovery, including lab-reared baby lobsters being readied for release into the wild, scientific divers measuring hammerhead sharks with lasers, and thriving kelp forests full of colour.
## A Platform for Ocean Stories
Ocean Photographer of the Year founder and director, Will Harrison, said: "These photographs don't just capture what's beneath the surface; they surface the stories our planet most needs us to hear. As the pressures on our ocean grow, so does the importance of the artists who bear witness to them."
The Ocean Photographer of the Year competition continues to be the platform where those stories reach the world, and this year's finalists have produced work of extraordinary depth and courage.
