DIVEVOLK Sponsors Mobile Photography at Inaugural Underwater Photo Awards in Russia

Jack Ho arrived at the inaugural Underwater Photo Awards having already made history once that season. In London, he claimed the first-ever Smartphone gold at Underwater Photographer of the Year 2026. Then, at the Moscow Dive Show on February 21, he won the mobile photography category again, becoming the first photographer to take top honors in smartphone underwater imaging at two major international competitions in a single season.

That double achievement came inside a competition that drew over 1,000 photographs from more than 100 photographers representing 11 countries, spread across eight categories ranging from freediving and scuba imagery to professional camera work. DIVEVOLK, a company that makes smartphone underwater housings and mobile dive accessories, served as the exclusive sponsor of the Mobile Photography category as a founding partner of the UWPA.

The significance of that founding partnership runs deeper than a logo on a trophy. Russia had not hosted an international underwater photography competition in a decade, and the UWPA's launch at the Moscow Dive Show represents a renewed institutional commitment to the discipline. That DIVEVOLK moved to anchor the mobile category from day one reflects a calculated bet: smartphone shooters, once tolerated at the edges of underwater imaging culture, are now competitive enough to warrant their own dedicated awards infrastructure.

DIVEVOLK formally announced the partnership details on April 2, though the ceremony itself had already taken place six weeks earlier. The gap underscores how quickly the mobile underwater niche is consolidating around real competitive events and sponsorship structures that mirror those long established for professional camera rigs.

Ho's season makes the clearest possible argument for what purpose-built housings have done for mobile imaging. The most expensive professional underwater setups no longer have a monopoly on award-winning results, and manufacturers who recognized that shift early are now the ones with their names on the trophies.