This stunning image of a diver under the ice won Herald photographer Richard Robinson the top award for lifestyle photography at the Australia-New Zealand Panpa media awards.
Robinson, who last year won top prize in the New Zealand Geographic photographer of the year competition, said he took the winning picture of his friend Pete Mesley as they emerged from Lake Alta at an altitude of 1837m in the Remarkables mountain range near Queenstown.
It was 2C in the water and the thing he remembers most was being able to use natural light.
"Most underwater photography uses flash but because it's a hole in the ice and coming up I got away with it."
Another New Zealander, Iain McGregor, was joint winner of the award for news pictures with his work for the Press from the February Christchurch earthquake.
