The Durban Undersea Club (DUC) has announced the winners of their 2018 Shootout. It attracted entries from local and foreign photographers, with the requirement that the images must have been taken within the geographic region of Southern Africa. Congratulations to all the winners.

Press release

DUC Shootout 2018

The 8th DUC Shootout took place between 1 December 2017 and the 30 June 2018.

This was the second year of the new format that included the following changes:
* The shooting area was increased to include the inland waters of Southern Africa
* A PRO section was added taking the number of categories to 4
* A more affordable tiered entry fee for each category was introduced

The 2018 DUC shootout was convened by Allen Walker.

Allen again invited five international award-winning photographers to judge the submissions of the 2018 shootout. The judges this year were:

Michel Lonfat
Markus Roth
Tanya Houppermans
Gregory Lecoeur
Shin Arunrugstichai

Amazing prizes, top judges and the freedom to capture images from Mozambique to the Cape as well as the inland waters of SA once again proved to be a great platform to showcase the diversity of our aquatic ecosystems in Southern Africa.

In a first for the DUC SHOOTOUT, we had an international contestant win the overall competition! The committee are really pleased with the interest from overseas competitors and the healthy competition that it brings to the South African underwater photographic community!

Prizes for the DUC SHOOTOUT 2018 exceeded R100 000 in total value.

Being able to raise sponsorship of this level and quality is a testimony to the sound ROI model the competition adheres to, as well as the excellent work of Lorraine Longhurst and Alma Chalupsky who facilitated prizes up to 4th place!

DUC , Canon, SCUBA.co.za , International Diving Systems of SA Scuba Pro, MANEX Marine , Scuba Professionals and Rob Allen provided dive gear as prizes. Wilderness Safaris, Hartley’s, Triton Dive Lodge, Agulhas House, Blue Ocean, Animal Ocean, Scuba Xcursion, Coral Divers, Back to Basics Adventures, Indigo Scuba , Goza Azul, Pisces Divers, Dive Action, Aliwal Dive Centre and Umhlanga Scuba , sponsored dives and accommodation packages for the deserving winners.

The diving operators play an integral part in the competition. Not only do they support the competitors in getting their images, but they also play a key role in exposing South Africa’s diving destinations to international and local scuba divers which is one of the objectives of the DUC SHOOTOUT competition. DAN SA, The Hatchery, MAPSTUDIO, Oceanview Apartments, HIRSCH’S cash prize from added to the amazing variety and high-value prizes that entrants of the DUC Shootout have become accustomed to!

All our valued sponsors are listed on the DUC Shootout competition webpage and in exchange for their support received exposure via the Durban Undersea clubs far-reaching and active social media pages.

Submerge Magazine, again, confirmed the publishing of the winning images in their respective magazines providing excellent exposure for the competitors as well as the sponsors. An exciting development has been the onboarding of WETPIXEL - the world’s most popular and informative underwater magazine and information hub, as a media partner. Wetpixel will publish the results and winning images on their social media and website platforms providing even further exposure for the competition, the winners and the valued sponsors.

The overall winner being an international competitor together with the fact that underwater shooters from Cape Town, who over the years dominated the DUC shootout, did not feature too strongly in this year’s competition has set the scene for an interesting 2019 event!

The DUC shootout remains SA’s most prestigious underwater photographic event with top quality prizes, high quality “current” judges and overall inspiring images.

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to the judges, sponsors, all the entrants and the Durban Undersea Club who assisted in a successful 2017 DUC SHOOTOUT.

RESULTS

Pro category

Advanced Category

Intermediate Category

Novice category

Reflecting on the 2018 event, it was pleasing to see the bedding down of the changes implemented in 2016. The tiered entry fee structure was key critical in maintaining the number of entries at the same number as the 2017 event, in an otherwise subdued global and local economic environment. The prizes for the contest have again been amazing due to the support of the sponsors and the sound value proposition that the DUC Shootout offers companies in return for their investment.

The overall quality and originality of the stills were again beyond the organizer’s expectations.