Telegraph releases World Best Photos in 2010 underwater photography competitions

A panel of judges have chosen the winners of this year's best photos in two major underwater photography competitions. The competitions, Our World Underwater and Deep Indonesia International, attracted 5000 entrants from 20 different countries across the world, and offered prizes worth over $120,000 (£74,000).

Prizes for the competitions included underwater photography equipment and travel and scuba diving packages to some of the top scuba diving holiday destinations featured in the photos in Indonesia including Bali, Triton Bay, Komodo, Manado, Raja Ampat, and Lembeh, plus further afield destinations including The Bahamas and Papua New Guinea.

Categories for the 4th annual Deep Indonesia International competition included images which focused on conservation and marine life; images taken by compact digital cameras which were popular amongst visitors on scuba diving holidays; reefscapes; animal portraits; animal behaviour; divers; and a category specifically for Indonesian residents.

Photograph judges for the Deep Indonesia International contest included Diego Garcia, editor of Scuba Diver AustralAsia Magazine; Dietmar Fuchs, editor of German scuba diving magazine, Unterwasser; Eric Cheng, an established and award-winning underwater photographer; and Tony Wu, editor of FiNS magazine in Asia.

Prizes for the 5th annual Our World Underwater competition included state-of-the-art underwater photography and diving equipment, and premium dive trips to breathtaking diving sites in Grand Cayman, Vietnam, Norway, the Solomon Islands, the Red Sea, Papua New Guinea, The Sea of Cortez, and Wakatobi-Indonesia.

Categories for this contest included Compact Cameras, Novice, Wide Angle Unrestricted, Macro Traditional, Macros Unrestricted, and Conservation.

Judges of the stunning photos and underwater videos included professional photographer and instructor, Berkley White; marine biologist, Dr. Alexander Mustard; underwater photographer, Ric Frazier; and editor and author of seven books, David Doubilet.

Winning photos which were submitted into both competitions features images of pregnant seahorses, a school of silver coated jackfish, underwater caves, the open jaw of a leopard seal, jellyfish, and colourful soft coral.