Class 1’s official photographer, Simon Palfrader, has won top honours in the 12th UIM annual photographic competition, lifting the gold medal in the Offshore category with his dramatic aerial shot of Maritimo 12 crashing out during the Romanian Grand Prix.

As in previous years, the competition attracted a huge entry of quality images taken during the 2009 calendar year from a variety of racing disciplines.

In all some 198 images made it to the judging stages in categories for Aquabike, Atmosphere, Circuit, Endurance, Offshore and Retouched. The pictures were judged by the jury taking into account the usual criteria of creativity, technical quality, composition, subject matter and overall impact, with the total points scored deciding the winners in each category.

Palfrader also picked up the bronze medal in the same category, and the silver medal in 'atmosphere', with Class 1 colleague, Raffaello Bastiani, taking the silver medal in the ‘retouched’ category.

All images can be viewed on www.uimpowerboating.com along with the full list of results.