Originally an underwater competition, the categories were expanded in recent years to enable nondiving photographers to enter the Land category, with photographs eligible from anywhere within iSimangaliso Wetland Park. This resulted in an interesting mix of images, including ones of the recently introduced lions in the uMkhuze section of the park. The overall winning photograph, of a Midas blenny (Ecsenius midas), was taken by seasoned professional photographer Dr Geoff Spiby, who travelled from Cape
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Town with family and friends to participate. Geoff also won the Advanced Underwater category with his portfolio entitled “At home where I usually live on the reef”. His prizes totalled around R60,000, and included underwater camera housing equipment and a shark diving trip to Fiji. His son, Kevin, scooped the prize for photographing the most fish species during the six-day competition – 135 of the more than 1,200 species that are known to occur in this section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.