Last weekend on the island of Rab, from May 27 to 29, another major international competition 6th Mares Underwater Photo Marathon Cup, organized by the Diving Club "Roniti se mora" and supported by the partner Tourist Board of the Island of Rab, ended with the final award ceremony for underwater photos. with the general sponsor Mares, and the logistical help of Kron diving diving center.

This year's Mares UWPM Cup had the most participants as of yet, 120 competitors - photographers, assistants and models from 12 countries; Denmark, Switzerland, Portugal, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Serbia, Hungary, Barbados, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Netherlands. With this number, the competition became the largest in Europe, and one of the largest in the world. Also, for some photographers, this occasion was also training for the upcoming European Championship in Portugal at the beginning of October of this year. Competitors could submit three of their photos in five default categories: Ambient with a model, Ambient without a model, Fish, Macro and Creative, and specially for compact and DSLR cameras. In addition to awards for the  photographers, those for the best models were also awarded, the Cup of Nations where the best competitors presented their countries and had the opportunity to win the Cup of Nations transitional cup and the "Blue Spirit Trophy" award for exceptional contribution and spirit of fair play.

The winners of the Mares UWPM Cup of Nations are Italians with photographers Guglielmo Cicerchia and Francesco Visintin, while the Blue Spirit trophy went to Jos Broere from the Netherlands.

A four-member international jury: Kerim Sabuncuoglu (Turkey), Michele Davino (Italy), Danijel Frka (Croatia) and Grega Verč (Slovenia) chose the best works, and the job was not at all easy, considering the fact that most of the competitors are already respected and experienced underwater photographers, and the beautiful waters of Rab gave them additional inspiration. But, as always, the jury did a great job.

The competition itself, due to difficult weather conditions, took place in the waters of Cape Lun and Crvene stijene, where photographers and their assistants were brought by excursion boats Mala Maris, Barba Frane and Barba Šime, along with two Kron Diving speedboats. Two 90-minute dives, despite the cold sea temperature of down to 12 degrees, were enough for a handful of beautiful photos of the underwater world.

The winning photos in the overall DSLR standings were taken by the following Italians: Fabio Iardino (1st place), Francesco Seso (2nd place) and Guglielmo Cicerchia (3rd place), and in the compact the first two places were taken by the Italians Yan Toso (1st place), Chiara Scrigner (2nd place) and Lovro Rašan from Croatia (3rd place).

The award for the best model went to Isabella Furfaro (Italy).

In the Croatian standings in the DSLR category, the best was Marino Brzac (1st place), followed by Karlo Maćaš (2nd place) and Dalibor Andres (3rd place), and in the compact Lovro Rašan (1st place), Nenad Škorić (2nd place). Place) and Alessandra Giordani (3rd Place).

The Best of show award went to Stefano Proakis from Italy.

The diving club "Roniti se mora" with all its members would like to thank the sponsors and partners of this project, TZ City of Rab, and all competitors.

We would like our above-water and underwater socializing to continue, to make new friendships below and above the water level.

Let the Mares UWPM Cup become a synonym for creating new friendships of different people connected by the same passion, a core around which we can connect and share our passion for underwater photography and the world below the surface of the water. A big thank you once again to everyone who participates in this competition and for being part of this unique story.

With respect,

Damir Zurub