Is there a woman lighting up your Instagram feed with incredible ocean imagery? Consider nominating her for the Female Fifty Fathoms Award, a new underwater photography award for women launched by Oceanographic Magazine in partnership with Swiss watch manufacturer Blancpain.

The Female Fifty Fathoms is one of six categories in Oceanographic’s Ocean Photography Awards 2021. Entrants can be “local or international, amateur or professional, famous or not,” according to Oceanographic’s contest page. “Let’s raise them up. Let’s inspire the next generation of ocean women through their example. Let’s push for parity.”

Women are proportionally underrepresented in both diving and professional photography. Female divers constitute fewer than 40 percent of Open Water certifications in the United States in 2021, according to DEMA industry statistics, and it is estimated a mere 15 to 20 percent of professional photojournalists are women.

Efforts to address the lack of women in professional photography over the last several years include a database of professional female photographers for hire launched in 2017, and a National Geographic’s 2019 Women’s Issue, the first in its more-than-130-year history to run only stories and images created by women.

“We encourage ‘the female gaze’: the idea that women photographers might see the world differently than men do and choose different topics to emphasize and explore,” National Geographic’s director of photography Sarah Leen explained in the issue. “Thanks to women photographers’ vision and images, we have the chance to bring you the whole world, not just part of it.”

Over the last seven years, PADI has worked to get more women into diving with PADI’s Women’s Dive Day. Set this year for July 17, it will be marked with events for female divers from Italy to Hawaii.

At the nexus of these changes, American dive photographer Renee Capozzola made worldwide headlines earlier this year for becoming the first woman to be named Underwater Photographer of the Year in the prestigious U.K. competition’s 56-year history.

There is no fee to nominate somebody for the Female Fifty Fathoms Award. Other contest categories include Ocean Exploration Photographer of the Year and Collective Portfolio Award, and cost $50 to enter. All proceeds support SeaLegacy, a marine conservation NGO. SeaLegacy co-founders Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen are among the contest judges, alongside other notable photographers including John Weller, founder of The Last Ocean Project, and freediver André Musgrove.

“By placing a spotlight on talented and boundary-pushing female photographers, we want to inspire other women to pursue their own photography dreams and ambitions, to give them the confidence to communicate their work with a wider audience, to go for it,” Will Harrison, editor of Oceanographic, told Scuba Diving in an email. “It’s also about connecting with that next generation of women photographers and change-makers, giving them the inspiration they need to perhaps place their camera in a housing for the first time and drop beneath the waves for a future they didn’t – or couldn’t – previously imagine.”

Contest entries must be submitted by July 31 and winners will be announced in September. The winner of the Female Fifty Fathoms Award will receive a watch from Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms collection, have her image shared on sponsor and magazine social platforms, and have her image featured in a public exhibition alongside London’s Thames River, among over prizes.

Award sponsor Blancpain hopes this new spotlight will “reward women's achievements in the field of ocean photography to inspire future generations and encourage them to work towards ocean preservation,” according to a company press release.