photography contest.

Gorham's Home Centre manager Mr. Ian Murdoch's unusual underwater shot of a ring of blue-face butterfly fish won one of 26 honourable mentions awarded.

Another went to American visitor Ms Muriel Ponzecchi of California for her snap of two frogs bathing in a lily pond in Bermuda.

The two photos are featured next to each other along with the other winning photos in an eight-page co lour spread in the June issue of Islands magazine.

Both won waterproof pouches -- the first prize being a vacation for two in Hawaii.

Mr. Murdoch's photo, one of more than 5,000 entered in the magazine's Fifth Annual Photo Contest, was taken on a 1986 trip to exotic Umm Qamar in the Red Sea.

Mr. Murdoch said yesterday his wife entered it with several of his underwater shots.

Many people had commented on the originality of the photo, he said. But it was still a nice surprise to win.

The amateur photographer said he had published a calendar of his underwater shots and was now looking to possibly publish a book of his collection.

Islands magazine editor in chief Ms Joan Tapper, who judged the contest along with her publisher, art director and photojournalist Mr. Douglas Kirkland, said it was a tough job to narrow down the entries to 33 winners and honourable mentions.

"There was an unusually strong field of underwater pictures this year as well as a gratifying array of landscapes,'' she remarked.