This yr, as a part of its Ocean Commitment – an initiative encompassing all of the model’s efforts to assist protect the oceans – Blancpain reiterated its dedication to the Ocean Photographer of the Year competitors, which rewards essentially the most outstanding ocean pictures.
To mark the event, Blancpain unveiled the title of this yr’s grand prize winner and the winner of the Female Fifty Fathoms award, each chosen from over 15,000 entries in all disciplines (underwater, on water and drone images).
This yr, Yury Ivanov gained the title of Ocean Photographer of the Year 2025 for his {photograph} of two amphipods feeding within the waters off Bali, Indonesia. This hanging picture of two “ladybugs of the sea” gained over the jury with the simplicity of its message: the ocean is a captivating, vibrant place teeming with lifetime of all sizes (together with these two amphipods measuring simply 3mm).
Presented for the fifth consecutive yr by Blancpain, the Female Fifty Fathoms Award encourages girls to share their imaginative and prescient of the underwater world, performing as a vector of inspiration. Judged by the jury and a Blancpain delegation led by Marc A. Hayek, President & CEO, the candidates highlighted the fantastic thing about our planet in a novel means. This yr’s Female Fifty Fathoms Award went to Chinese Jialing Cai, a marine biologist, blackwater photographer and science communicator specialised in revealing the world of zooplankton.
This yr’s images showcased epic pictures of wildlife, together with a droooling dragon, torpedo-like penguins, a puffin desperately attempting to evade a thief, a stingray atop a billowing sand-cloud, the mountain range-like ruffles of a Weddell seal’s fur coat and a juvenile sweet crab ruling over its territory. The relationship between man and the ocean has additionally been immortalised, notably with a gravity-defying surfer, the brutal actuality of whaling within the Faroe Islands, in addition to a staff of conservationists trying to save lots of a beached whale.
The Ocean Photographer of the Year, offered by Oceanographic Magazine and Blancpain, has a easy mission: to shine a lightweight on the surprise and fragility of our blue planet and to rejoice the photographers giving it a voice. The competitors is a cornerstone of the Blancpain Ocean Commitment. The programme consists of three interconnected pillars: elevating consciousness of the ocean’s magnificence, supporting scientific analysis on ecosystems and underwater phenomena, in addition to taking concrete conservation actions equivalent to serving to to create marine protected areas around the globe.
The first Ocean Photographer of the Year 2025 exhibition will open on the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney on 6 November, adopted by a number of further venues in early 2026.
October 16, 2025