Winner

Peter McGee, Clown doris nudibranch and ascidian
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: I found a number of these beautiful clown doris nudibranchs on a large boulder. I kept an eye on this one hoping it would move into a good position for a shot, while photographing others that were mating. The encrusting ascidian provided an interesting and compatable foreground for the colourful sea slug species.

Winner

Ian Donato, Danse macabre
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: It's been a big year for giant cuttlefish activity in Cabbage Tree Bay. Arguably the finest moment of the breeding season show is when two male vie for dominance. It's the natural world's equivalent of a light sabre fight.

Runner-up

Kate Ahmad, Love at rock bottom
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: In winter every year, Port Jackson sharks migrate to Cabbage Tree Bay to meet a mate and produce the next generation of PJs. Mating is far from romantic, and this photo shows the female shark seemingly pleading for respite as the male shark restrains her. It’s brutal but also somewhat majestic; raw, miraculous nature.

Highly Commended

Johnavan Ford, A floating safe house
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: Warty Jelly Fish and Juvenile Pygmy Leather Jackets.

The underside of the jelly bell doesn't have any stingers so the smaller fish use it as a safe haven from larger fish. If the larger fish come close they are stung by the jelly's stingers which could become a source of food for the jelly.

A good example of symbiosis where the small fish use the big jelly as a source of protection and sometimes food from the food scraps and the small fish attract larger fish to the jelly.

Winner

Raymonda Dijkwel, Underwater forest
Aquatic Reserve: North Harbour

Photographer's statement: Like trees, golden kelp provide a variety of living spaces. Many organisms use the blades as a safe shelter from predators or rough storms. Kelp provides food and protection for all kinds of marine life. Birds, too, feed on the flies, invertebrates, fish and crustaceans that live in the kelp forest.

The large kelp fronds create a dense canopy that creates a lightshow, which feels like swimming through a underwater forest.

Runner-up

David Edgar, A pop of pastel
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: A brilliantly coloured giant cuttlefish proudly patrols the shallows of Cabbage Tree Bay in search of a mate. The bokeh particles surrounding the cuttlefish are specs of debris, stirred up from an earlier encounter with a rival male, that glimmer in the last rays of golden light.

Highly Commended

Peter Hutchins, Catfish ball
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: The catfish ball is a mesmerising spectacle that occasionally appears in the bay. It is an ever-changing, hovering mass that sometimes covers the bottom like a carpet and other times reaches for the sky.

Winner

Peter Hutchins, Catching fever
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: Rare and challenging to capture on camera, Cownose rays may occasionally be spotted in Cabbage Tree Bay. With precise timing and anticipation of their movements, you can obtain extraordinary footage as the rays glide past.

Runner-up

Lesley Spencer, Caught
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: Saddened by the prevalence of isopods on our local Grey Nurse Sharks I began documenting them on other locals, only to be reminded by this lovely Wobbegong that their natural threat of parasites does not compare to the impact we as humans have on them.

Highly Commended

Teya McEwan, Curious friend
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: Ever since learning to dive, the Blue Grouper has been a curious friend. Always sticking near me and accompanying me on my dives. Unafraid and inquisitive to my presence when lying on the sea floor.

Winner

Peter McGee, Clown doris nudibranch and ascidian
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: I found a number of these beautiful clown doris nudibranchs on a large boulder. I kept an eye on this one hoping it would move into a good position for a shot, while photographing others that were mating. The encrusting ascidian provided an interesting and compatable foreground for the colourful sea slug species.

Runner-up

Edward Midgley, Eye to eye
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: Giant cuttlefish are one of my favourite aquatic creatures, specifically the way in which they hold eye contact with you. This connection, feels almost as if you can communicate with them and I wanted to capture this feeling in an image. As I had an interaction with one this season, it came close to inspect me and I snapped this.

Highly Commended

Jose Magos, Deepwater gaze
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: Down in Cabbage Tree Bay everything feels quiet and endless, I dove with just one breath, keeping calm as I locked eyes with a Wobbegong shark. In that moment, I felt a connection to the calm that the Wobbegong embodies, blending seamlessly into the ocean floor.

Winner

Lisa De Luca, The return of the nurses
Aquatic Reserve: Long Reef

Photographer's statement: Long Reef has long been known as the haunt of the rare and endangered Grey Nurse Shark. In recent years, their numbers had been declining. However in the last two to three years, the Nurses have made a triumphant comeback, both in numbers and size of the sharks. It is absolutely awe-inspiring to see these gentle giants swimming calmly along the Apartments and Gutter of Long Reef again.

Runner-up

Nicole Sroba, A taste of seagrass
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: Basil, a resident Green Sea Turtle at Cabbage Tree Bay, is often seen peacefully munching on seagrass. These meadows are among one of the most productive marine habitats, providing food and refuge for animals like Basil.

Highly Commended

Jack Leonard Harman, Basil's evening stroll
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: Basil is one of Cabbage Tree Bay's resident Green Sea Turtles. First seen late last year and not overly fussed about human presence, she has seemed to have settled in our beautiful bay and one particular evening, was seen going for an evening swim.

Winner

Xina Hudson, PJ yin and yang
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: How do Port Jackson sharks tell each other apart? There are subtle differences to the human eye - a prominent stripe, a love bite or scratch mark here on a fin, a feisty or shy personalty, a preferred resting nook. I love how PJs greet one another by swimming in a harmonious circle like yin and yang, as if to exchange a greeting before choosing to swim on, or stopping to spend more time with each other.

Winner

Raphael Hampartzoumian, Chilling
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: The image was inspired by the subtle beauty of the ocean and the peacefulness of an Eagle Ray. Watching it roaming on the white sandy bottom of Cabbage Tree Bay it effortlessly blends with its surroundings basking in the sunlight filtering through the surface.

Runner-up

Andre Chmielewski, Thief in the bay
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: Here we can see a crested horn shark stealing another crested horn shark's spiral shaped egg hidden in the barren bolders.

Runner-up

Amanda Cannon, Snack break in the seagrass
Aquatic Reserve: Cabbage Tree Bay

Photographer's statement: Basil, the local Green Sea Turtle, pauses for a peaceful bite amidst the swaying seagrass bed. Her slow, unhurried pace in her 'life below water' offers a peaceful contrast to the rush of daily life.