Connecting you to America's Underwater Treasures

2025 Get Into Your Sanctuary Photo Contest 

Calling all photographers, regardless of skill level or experience, select your best photos to participate in the 2025 Get Into Your Sanctuary Photo Contest.

Winning photos will be featured in the Earth Is Blue social media campaign.

We will be accepting submissions from May 23, 2025 through September 1, 2025 in the following categories:

Show the world what the ocean and Great Lakes mean to you.

• Sanctuary Views: Share your photos of beautiful sunsets or scenic shots of your favorite national marine sanctuary.
• Sanctuary Life: Send us your best photos of sanctuary inhabitants like fish, birds, marine mammals, and other amazing ocean creatures.
• Sanctuary Recreation: Enter your best images of people responsibly enjoying national marine sanctuaries, whether they’re boating, kayaking, diving, swimming, conducting research, or just hanging out on the beach.
• Sanctuaries Around the World: Ocean connection can happen anywhere, not just in the National Marine Sanctuary System. Following the guidance of Sanctuary Recreation, Sanctuary Life, and Sanctuary Views, show us where you connect to the ocean by submitting your photos, from anywhere in the world, to the "Sanctuaries Around the World" category of our photo contest. Submissions to this category can include photos taken in the United States, but outside of a national marine sanctuary, as well as photos taken outside of the United States. We recommend that these images consist of photos taken in the wild of marine life or bodies of water close to you. Submissions of photos from zoos, aquariums, or other indoor establishments are not encouraged.

Submit your photos until Monday, September 1, 2025 by completing one of these Google forms:

• Sanctuary Views
• Sanctuary Life
• Sanctuary Recreation
• Sanctuaries Around the World

Winning photographs will be announced in October 2025. Each photographer may submit up to 10 photos total (minimum of 1200 pixels on long edge). To clarify, this means 10 photos per person, not 10 photos per category. Photographers may submit photos to all categories, as long as their submissions do not exceed 10 photos total. Additional photos will be disqualified if photographer submits more than 10 images. All images MUST include the following information: photographer's name, short description of when and where the photo was taken, and what is shown in the photo. Please include the species names of animals if known.

Remember to practice responsible recreation when taking your photos. When photographing marine mammals and other protected species, always follow wildlife viewing guidelines to ensure that you are not disturbing these animals. 

Help us highlight wildlife photography best practices by indicating what kind of camera/lens you used and the approximate distance from which you took the photo. Animals need plenty of space to stay healthy and safe, so let's share our collective knowledge of responsible photography!

Thank you for participating and we are excited to review your submissions! Please make sure to review the contest rules.

For questions, please contact earthisblue@noaa.gov.

Please use #GetIntoYourSanctuary and #RecreateResponsibly to help spread the word!