Gerrad Kennedy wins Northern Beaches underwater photography prize

By Marcus Bennett

Gerrad Kennedy’s photograph of a delicate, plant-like hydroid is the overall winner of the sixth Northern Beaches Underwater Photography Competition, taking the Valerie Taylor Award for Excellence.

Titled Whispers in the Reserve, the image brings a small marine subject into detailed view, making close looking the point of the photograph.

The judges praised its “outstanding composition and clarity,” saying the hydroid’s “delicate outstretched tentacles invite viewers to look closer.” They also called it a striking example of the diversity and beauty that can flourish when marine life is protected through aquatic reserves.

Technically, the jury’s language puts composition and clarity at the centre. The winning picture’s achievement lies not in an unusual subject but in rendering a form that can disappear at a glance. The judges then extend that precision into a wider environmental argument about protected marine life.

That combination of close detail and environmental argument gives the winning picture the character of a portrait rather than an isolated record. The frame makes the hydroid’s structure legible, while the judges’ assessment connects sustained observation with the protection of marine life.

The competition’s wider range runs from tiny, delicate organisms to sweeping underwater vistas, and this year’s entries include images and reels. In its sixth year, the event uses photography to celebrate marine beauty and biodiversity, with specialist and civic judging giving the technical work an institutional frame.

Kennedy’s close study stands apart from the broad views available elsewhere in the field. Its scale does not depend on a sweeping vista or dramatic setting; the hydroid’s plant-like form and delicate outstretched tentacles carry the visual argument. The judges’ emphasis on clarity matters here because detail, rather than size, determines what the viewer can see.

More than 550 people voted for the People’s Choice Award. Beverly Southern took it for I See You, an image built around a moment of apparent mutual surveillance: a toadfish and its reflection hide in the shallows while the fish seems to keep watch on the photographer.

Southern’s work supplies a compact counterpoint to Kennedy’s formal close-up. The doubled form of fish and reflection creates the visual wit and tension; no sweeping vista or dramatic gesture is needed to hold the frame. The picture turns an encounter between animal, water and observer into a concise study of gaze.

Three judges assessed the entries: Northern Beaches Council Public Art Curator Holly Williams; local author, underwater photographer and citizen scientist John Sear; and environmental educator and marine conservation advocate Robynne Millward. Their mix of public curation, local practice and conservation work matches the competition’s movement between aesthetic judgment and marine awareness.

The institutional context is significant because the sixth edition does more than announce a winner. It combines juried recognition, a public vote and a planned sequence of displays, placing the selected photographs within a civic programme shaped by the council, an underwater photographer and environmental advocates.

The award structure separates two forms of authority without pretending they are the same: jury assessment chooses Kennedy’s hydroid, while audience voting selects Southern’s toadfish.

Where can the winning images be seen?

The winning images appear on the competition’s online exhibition webpage before the physical tour begins. Three venue dates follow:

• Ruby Lane Café, Manly: Friday 6 November to Friday 20 November 2026.
• Mona Vale Library: 30 November 2026 to 2 February 2027.
• Manly Library: 8 February to 2 April 2027.

Ruby Lane Café offers the first and shortest stop, a two-week display in Manly. The exhibition then moves to Mona Vale Library for just over two months before reaching Manly Library, where it remains until early April. Across the sequence, the selected work moves from an online gallery to a café and then two public libraries.

Viewers who cannot make the November dates can still encounter the photographs online or at the later library venues. The practical change for audiences is access: works recognised by judges and the public remain visible in Manly and Mona Vale into 2027.

The programme’s next phase is a measured geographic expansion, carrying the sixth competition’s marine images from a fortnight at Ruby Lane Café into a library tour that runs through 2 April 2027. The winning pictures will therefore reach their longest run in the setting that most directly links photographic display with public access.