SCUBAHUB
Wide-angle winner and BIUPC Champion 2026, Mark O’ Leary
Winner of the Close-up category, John Gillies
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Jon Bunker, winner of‘ Mankind’ s Impact on the Environment’
24 hours of underwater photography
AN IMAGE OF A DOLPHIN DESCRIBED BY JUDGES AS A‘ masterful portrait’ has been crowned winner in the 2026 British & Irish Underwater Photography Championship( BIUPC). A total of 78 images were submitted by 29 competitors in the annual British Society of Underwater Photographers’ on-the-day splash-in competition. The competition is open to all and challenges competitors to take, process and submit images from anywhere in UK and Irish waters in the space of just 24 hours. This year’ s category winners were Mark O’ Leary( Wideangle), John Gillies( Close-up) and Jon Bunker( Mankind’ s Impact on the Environment). Mark also scooped the overall BIUPC 2026 Champion title. Organiser and judge Paul Colley( alongside Ivan Donoghue) said that they had been impressed by the quality of images submitted for the 2026 competition.“ The Championship attracts a regular cadre of underwater photographers who enjoy this style of competition, which places as much emphasis on good organisation and logistics as it does on skill with a camera,” he added.“ And this year’ s images show clearly the impressive results that can be achieved in just one day’ s diving.” Details of BIUPC 2027 will be released shortly. In the meantime, all the 2026 winning and shortlisted images can be viewed at www. bsoup. org. uk / competitions / biupc-awards-2026