ΔΙΑΓΩΝΙΣΜΟΣ ΥΠΟΒΡΥΧΙΑΣ ΦΩΤΟΓΡΑΦΙΑΣ (ΜΕΧΡΙ 22 ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΥ 2009)

2009 is the 31st year of the International Festival of Underwater Photography, Films and Children's Artwork.

The festival is open to both amateurs and professionals. You may enter by uploading photographs at http://www.paftachov.cz/en/www/. The deadline for accepting the works April 22nd 2009. The photographic categories include: wide-angle image without a diver; wide-angle image with a diver; macro image and water animal image.

The festival started in 1979. In the beginning it was a modest 16mm and 8 mm films competition, later upgraded with photographs.

As the time went by, categories expanded with slides, videos, and children's art works being added.

At first all competition works were assessed only by the audience. Then in 1994, professional juries were introduced.

In addition to local authors, participants in the come from many countries including Australia, Belgium, Egypt, Finland, France, Italy, Canada, Yugoslavia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, USA and Great Britain.

The festival is now an international event organised under the auspices of CMAS, the World Underwater Federation which is one of the oldest dive organisations in the world.

The originally one-day event has become a four-day event with a lot of space for discussions, friendships, offering divers plenty of experiences and issues to be assessed. Anyone can join this festival, which is aiming to present results of diver's works in many forms, the artistic in particular.

The festival takes place in Tachov, Czech Republic, from 21st to 24th May 2009.

Further reading:
http://www.paftachov.cz/en/www/


http://www.news.scubatravel.co.uk/2009/03/2009-is-31st-year-of-international.html