The winning images from the 13th edition of the Photo Competition for United Nations World Oceans Day were recently announced, with the 2026 victors covering themes from underwater botanical gardens to curious deep-sea creatures.
Organized by the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, the competition coincided with the UN’s annual World Oceans Day this month, calling on photographers to highlight the “beauty of the ocean” across a range of categories.
New for the 2026 edition was the Connecting Oceans category, with Valentina Cucchiara (Italy) taking the crown. She captured an awe-inspiring shot showing a diver in the Cenote Nariz, a colossal subterranean aquifer in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.
Cucchiara explained how the underwater cave system is the primary source of fresh water sustaining the “sprawling jungles, diverse wildlife, and human communities” of the region.
Images taken in Mexico also won the “Big and Small Underwater Faces” and “Underwater Seascapes” categories.
UK photographer Kaushiik Subramaniam came first in the former with a close-up portrait of a semi-submerged gray whale (top image) taken during an “incredibly special encounter” off the coast of Baja, California.
And Ysabela Coll (Dominican Republic) won the latter with a “dream-like” shot of an underwater botanical garden teeming with colorful lilies and small fish (above).
The scene took place in another cenote, with Coll saying that its beauty is a reminder of our responsibility to “protect these hidden ecosystems”.
Bruce Sudweeks (USA) captured the only winning scene from outside Mexico to claim the Above Water Seascapes category. Shot on Alaska’s Kodiak Island, it shows two bear cubs “frolicking” in a river.
In a contrasting frame of endearment and danger, Sudweeks explained how the cubs will “effortlessly select” salmon from the river, denying the fish the chance to reproduce.
You can view this year's winners of the Photo Competition for UN World Oceans Day, along with winners from previous competitions, at the World Oceans Day website.
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