In 2013 Dan was approached by Alex Mustard with an idea that we had shared for a while. The idea was that the UK, nay the world, was missing a properly run, properly judged and properly supported underwater photography competition. Dan built the Nudibranch Photo Competition website as a test-case for the much larger Underwater Photographer of the Year competition.
The NPC attracted images from around the globe and proved that the site he’d built, along with the technologies needed to support the running of a much larger competition, had all worked very well. And so… the Underwater Photographer of the Year competition (UPY) was born.
Dan Bolt is now the web developer of the world’s most respected underwater photography competition. This is no small task. The public facing website is just the tip of the iceberg; behind the scenes there is an online competition management system that allows the smooth and swift judging of well over 4000 images – each one with feedback as to which round of the judging they made it to.
Add to that the design of prints for display, and creation of the highty-regarded media pack that goes out to the UPY media partners, and Dan is a major part of this continuing success story.
Taken from amustard.com:
The inaugural competition, judged by Alex Mustard, Peter Rowlands and Martin Edge was a huge success. Set out to be a competition by photographers for photographers with the rules, judges and ethos that the community really wants. 2015 saw over 2500 images entered from over 40 different countries. The 2016 edition attracted 3500 entries from 54 different countries and in 2017 this jumped again to 4500 entries from 67 different countries. The 2018 edition topped 5000 entries, which is a most impressive number given that underwater photography is a niche discipline. The winning images have been seen by millions around the world in hundreds of press articles. And this is really the prize that money cannot buy, as the winning photographers get their talent showcased by the likes of major newspapers and the BBC, CNN, National Geographic and even Cosmopolitan! The winning prints have been on display at Fox Talbot Museum of Photography, the Chavonnes Battery Museum in Cape Town and the National Marine Aquarium, with many more exhibitions in the pipeline.