Organised by Atlantic Diving, and sponsored by the Ayuntamiento de Mog?????n, the Canarian government, La Caja de Canarias, and various local hotels, this competition once again proved itself to be the most popular of its kind in the Canary Islands, from artistic, sporting and environmental perspectives.

The private event, which took place from June 19 to 24, aimed to persuade the Gobierno de Canarias to invest more money in this specialised sector of tourism by showcasing the dive site at Mog?????n through the work of famous photographers. Fotosub director Daniel Rodr????­guez said: "We want to show the world the spectacular Canarian sea beds through the eyes of the best submarine photographers in the world."

Daniel listed the attractions of Puerto de Mog?????n for dive tourists, including the cleanliness of the water and reefs, the port"s infrastructure and the quality of its dive centre. He said: "We must promote Gran Canaria"s sea beds and convert it into a Mecca for divers."

To this end, the best submarine photographers from all over Europe were invited to compete at Fotosub 2007. The organisers covered the expenses of the twelve teams: two from the UK, two from Germany, four from Spain, and one each from Norway, France, Portugal, and Italy. Journalists from specialist Spanish and English-language magazines such as Sportsdiver and Dive were also invited to cover the event to bring to worldwide attention the underwater photos of Gran Canaria.

The teams, each consisting of one photographer and one model, had two days and four dives in which to take these photos. Diving twice a day, for 50 minutes only, they had to capture six images that satisfied different categories: one posed by their model, one subaquatic landscape, one fish, one macro-photo, one of the yellow submarine that tours the wrecks and reefs of Puerto de Mog?????n, and one "creative" freestyle image.

The British Society of Underwater Photography provided Gran Canaria with the British contenders, Martin Davies and Samantha Bean. They were up against stiff competition from the three times World Submarine Photography Champion Carlos Minguell (Spain), the Norwegian and official World Number Three in submarine photography Espen Rekdal, and the fifth in the world, Gilles Suc, representing France.

The teams had to deliver their photos directly to the judges without touch-ups. Copies of all the entries were displayed in the dive centre for the public while the judges deliberated. This panel of five experts included Juan Carlos Garc????­a (editor of Spanish magazine "Inmersi??n"), John Woodward (specialist in Marine Biology for Sportsdiver magazine), and David Lloyd (editor of Dive magazine). The photographer with the best overall six photos would be awarded the main prize of 3,000 euros, with the two runners up collecting 2,000 and 1,000 euros.

This year, running parallel to the competition, after sundown, was Fotosub"s sister event, the Mog?????n Underwater Film Festival. The festival, which took place every night on the beach, was open to the public free of charge. It was introduced by acclaimed director Leandro Blanco, the underwater filmmaker whose work has garnered more prizes than any other submarine director. A retrospective of his film career was organised as part of the festival alongside other films, mostly Spanish shorts, all with the sea as their topic.

The film festival was the brainchild of several Fotosub co-ordinators, among them Mr Rodr????­guez who, as well as running the Fotosub events, also works as a cameraman for production company Takeaway Films. This company was responsible for the films charting the "making of" the two previous diving events. Other films shown included "Historias sin palabras" ("Silent stories") by the French Polynesian Rachel Campergue, and "N??madas del Mar" ("Nomads of the Sea") by Spain"s Francisco Candela.

The competition culminated on Saturday, June 24, with a public exhibition of the 72 photos entered for judging, as well as sand sculptures by Etoile Ojeda, the yellow submarine featured in the dive photos, and the retrospective of Leandro Blanco.

The winner of the competition was announced during the proceedings and presented with his cheque at a prize giving ceremony. This year, Spaniards David Barrio y Luisa Quintanilla pipped the Brits to the post.

All the photos from Fotosub Gran Canaria Costa Mog?????n 2007 will be published in specialist diving magazines throughout Europe.