Congratulations to Randall Benton (bentoni) for winning Wetpixel’s Picture of the Year 2009 with his image of photographer Doug Perrine below a large manta ray at the famous Kona night manta dive. Benton’s image beat out 43 other fantastic images during 30 days of public voting.

For his winning image, Benton scores a one-week trip aboard the M/V Solmar V, a liveaboard dive vessel that runs dive trips to Socorro, the Sea of Cortez, and to Guadalupe for great white sharks. Jose Luis of Solmar V writes:

“Congratulations from the Solmar V on a fantastic image! We are especially partial to giant manta shots. We truly look forward to introducing you to the gianta mantas of socorro where you will have great photo ops - up close and personal - with these amazing creatures.”

Be sure to enter our Picture of the Week contest. At the end of 2010, you’ll all have a shot at winning the next picture of the year. Special thanks to our POTW sponsors, Ikelite and Solmar V.