It's Shark Awareness Day, and what better way to mark the occasion than by revealing the winners and runners up of the Shark Photographer of the Year 2025 competition?
Organised by the Shark Trust, the awards celebrate the incredible diversity of sharks, rays and skates from around the world.
Over 1,200 images were submitted to this year’s competition, with the top prize going to Julian Hebenstreit for a striking shot of an Indo-Pacific leopard shark (or tiger shark) taken in Australia. "This photograph is at first glance quite simple, but with a depth that rewards repeated views," says judge and Shark Trust patron Simon Rogerson.
Here, we reveal a selection of our favourite images from the competition.
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Shark Photographer of the Year 2025
An exhibition of the finalists’ images is currently on display in Plymouth, England, home of the Shark Trust. They’ll remain there until the end of the month as part of the Shark Month celebrations going on in Britain’s Ocean City.
Shark Awareness Day (14 July) is a day to celebrate the over 1,200 different species of shark and ray found in our oceans.
Find out more about the Shark Trust photography competition.
Top image: rough shark. Credit: Andrej A. Gajić
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