The 38th Spanish Fotosub-NAFOSUB Championship and the 4th Spanish Inclusive Fotosub-NAFOSUB Championship will bring together leading underwater imaging specialists in Menorca this September.
DID YOU LIKE THIS CONTENT? WELL... YOU HAVE ALL OF OUR FULL PROGRAMS HERE!Ciutadella (Menorca) will become one of Spain’s leading venues for underwater photography next September with the staging of the 38th Spanish Fotosub-NAFOSUB Championship 2026 and the 4th Spanish Inclusive Fotosub-NAFOSUB Championship 2026 (NAFOSUBIN). Both championships are scheduled to take place in Ciutadella from 15 to 20 September 2026 and will be hosted by Club Nàutic Ciutadella.
The event will combine sport, technical skill, creativity and knowledge of the marine environment in a competition in which participants will have to capture their images during a series of dives in Menorcan waters. In NAFOSUB, teams will consist of a photographer and an assistant, while the inclusive championship will feature teams made up of a photographer and one or more assistants.
The programme will begin on Tuesday, 15 September with participant accreditation, documentation checks and the official presentation of the championship, followed by a technical meeting, a briefing on safety measures and the emergency plan, and the draw for the dives. The competitive sessions will take place on Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17th of September, with a total of four dives scheduled. The judging panels will meet on Friday 18th, while the prize-giving ceremony and image presentation are scheduled for Saturday 19th from 11:00, followed by a commemorative lunch at Club Nàutic Ciutadella.
The planned dive sites for NAFOSUB competitors are Pont d’en Gil, Cala’n Forcat, Sa Suïssa and Canyons/Ses Arcades, while the inclusive championship will use Clot d’en Barceló, Els Vermells, Safari and Cala Blanca. In both competitions, Cala Morell, Son Xoriguer and Far d’Artrutx have also been designated as reserve sites in the event of changes caused by weather conditions or force majeure.
Safety will be one of the key aspects of the competition. Dives will be limited to a maximum depth of 30 metres and a maximum duration of 90 minutes, and decompression dives will not be permitted. The regulations also stipulate that both championships will be conducted using air.
Beyond the sporting element, the championship will also seek to showcase the visual and natural wealth of the seabed. Participants will have to demonstrate both technical and artistic ability across a range of photographic categories, with judges assessing aspects such as composition, the difficulty of the shot, integration of subjects into their surroundings, creativity, colour variety and originality.
NAFOSUB categories include wide angle with diver, wide angle without diver, fish, macro or close-up, themed photography, creative photography and mobile device photography. The inclusive championship includes, among others, wide angle without diver, fish, fish close-up, macro, themed photography and creative photography.
One of the categories most closely connected to the Menorcan environment will be the themed photography category, dedicated in 2026 to Posidonia seagrass, one of the defining features of Mediterranean underwater ecosystems.
The regulations place particular emphasis on respect for the marine environment. Any photograph in which manipulation of the environment or of the organisms being photographed can be seen or reasonably interpreted may be disqualified. Images must also comply strictly with the conditions established for each category.
Each photograph will be scored by the members of the jury on a scale from 0 to 100 points. The top three finishers in each category will receive gold, silver and bronze medals respectively, while results from first to tenth place across the different categories will count towards the final overall championship standings.
With two national championships sharing the same venue and some of Ciutadella’s most notable underwater sites serving as the competition arena, Menorca is preparing for several days in which photography and scuba diving will go hand in hand. The event will turn the cameras beneath the surface, showcasing the richness and beauty of the Mediterranean through a variety of perspectives and photographic categories.
