A competition that saw participants photograph and film deep sea creatures and discoveries has announced its winners.

Organised by UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man, the annual competition was run by dive school Discover Diving.

This year had the theme of ‘Best of Manx’ and there were photography sections for macro, shipwrecks, novelty and scenic images, as well as a challenge to videographers to film ‘My Dive in One Minute’.

Entry was open to local and visiting divers, and photos and video entered had to be shot in June of this year in Manx waters.

Dr Michelle Haywood MHK, of Discover Diving, said: ‘Isle of Man waters are home to an amazing variety of marine life. The relatively large tides ensure that static animals such as anemones get a regular flow of food washing over them.

‘Body shapes are different for marine creatures as the water supports them and many of them do not have a skeleton or anything that resembles one, it can look like an alien world. Large animals like seals are easy to spot but hard to photograph if they move quickly.

‘Smaller animals such as nudibranchs can be very brightly coloured but sometimes are only a few millimetres long and very hard to spot.

‘Guillemots nest around the Sugarloaf and the Chasms and dive down from the surface to feed. They swim as well underwater as they fly in the air, turning very quickly in search of food.’

She added: ‘Digital cameras have changed the nature of underwater photography, allowing photographers to experiment with lighting and position to capture the best image.

‘Of course some images are much harder than others. Guillemots swimming underwater move very fast, anemones are more static.

‘Photographing divers requires you to watch their breathing pattern so exhaled bubbles don’t ruin the picture. And while capturing these amazing images, divers have to keep themselves safe and manage being underwater.’

The competition was judged by visiting Consular-General of Portugal in Manchester, Duarte Bue Alves, who has a strong interest in marine life, former BBC journalist and government communications officer Mark Edwards, and Jo Overty, project manager with UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man.

Prizes in each category were provided by Discover Diving, which is based in Port St Mary.

And the overall winner took home a handmade Biosphere trophy, depicting ocean life.

The overall winner of the Biosphere trophy was Tim Nicholson, who dived outside the Sugarloaf caves and caught diving guillemots on camera.

He also won the macro category with a candy striped flatworm and received the prize for the scenic category with his diving guillemots.

Mr Nicholson won the wreck category as well with a selfie on the wreck of the Citrine ship.

Kathryn Fowler won the novelty category as she also photographed a guillemot underwater and the video category with a dive through the Sugarloaf caves alongside feeding guillemots.

Highly commended were Alex Aithison, David Ellingham, Mike Wilson, and Manx Wildlife Trust chief executive Leigh Morris.