Spanish photographer Alvaro Herrero has been named Underwater Photographer of the Year 2025 for his beautiful image 'Radiant Bond', capturing a mother humpback whale guiding her newborn calf through the ocean in French Polynesia.
Other prize winners in this year's competition – which drew over 6,750 entries from across the world – include Shunsuke Nakano from Japan with his photo of two male Asian sheepshead wrasse jousting over spawning rights, Abdulaziz Al Saleh from Kuwait with his unique shot of camels drinking in the desert, and Bryant Turffs from the United States with a picture of a prehistoric gar fish taken in the Everglades.
Here are a few of our favourite images from the competition.
Underwater Photographer of the Year 2025 | Wide Angle - winner/Alvaro Herrero Lopez-Bletran, UPY2025
Wrecks – winner/Alex Dawson, UPY2025
Portrait – winner/Abdulaziz Al Saleh, UPY2025
Wide Angle – runner up/Joostvan Uffelen, UPY2025
Portrait – runner up/Hussain Aga Khan, UPY2025
British Waters Macro – winner/Dan Bolt, UPY2025
Compact – winner/Bryant Turffs, UPY2025
Wide Angle – runner up/Alvaro Herrero Lopez-Bletran, UPY2025
Up and Coming – runner up/Autumn Martin, UPY2025
Coral Reefs –winner/Catherine Holmes, UPY2025
Compact - runner up/Enrico Somogyi, UPY2025
Macro – runner up/Nicholas More, UPY2025
Wrecks – runner up/Wojciech Dopierala, UPY2025
Behaviour – winner/Shunsuke Nakano, UPY2025
British Waters Wide Angle – runner up/Simon Temple, UPY2025Main image: Alvaro Herrero, UPY2025
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