Blue Ocean Film Festival Announces Winning Films, Honors Ocean Heroes
The winners of The 2014 BLUE Carpet Film Awards were announced November 7 at The Mahaffey Theatre in Downtown St. Petersburg, Fla. Films were selected as part of the BLUE Ocean Film Festival and Conservation Summit (BLUE) as being the top cinematic works for ocean conservation and awareness. BLUE is a one-of-a-kind film industry and community event bringing together films, filmmakers and leaders in ocean research and conservancy.
“Shark Girl”, by Kaufmann Productions, Australia, won Best of Festival, as well as Broadcast category. Madiison Stewart, having grown up on the Great Barrier Reef, protects the sharks she loves by changing society’s perceptions.
“Swain’s Island: One of the Last Jewels of the Planet”, a film by Jean-Michel Cousteau and winner of the Cultural Connections: People and the Sea category, made its North American Premiere exclusively at the festival. Swain’s is a tiny remote Pacific island with a freshwater lake, located in the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa. 
“Great White Shark” by Giant Screen Films, won in both Marine Life category and a special jury recognition for 3D. “Great White Shark” explores the great white’s place in our imaginations, in our fears, and in its role at the top of the oceanic food chain.
Below are the honored winners of the BLUE Carpet awards in each category:
- Animation: “Two Minutes on Oceans with Jim Toomey: Nutrient Runoff”
- Best Use of Music: “Yakona”
- Broadcast TV Program: “Shark Girl”
- Children’s: “The Marvelous Musical of the Marine National Monuments”
- Cinematography: “One Breath: A Monterey Bay Experience”
- Conservation Innovations and Solutions: ”Mapping the Blue”
- Cultural Connections: People and the Sea: “Swain’s Island: One of the Last Jewels of the Pacific”
- Documentary Feature Film: “Journey to the South Pacific”
- Educational Non-Broadcast: “Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch”
- Emerging Filmmaker: “A Sweet Spot In Time”
- Exploration and Adventure: “Antarctica 3D On the Edge”
- Foreign Language Film: “Baja’s Secret Miracle”
- Marine Life: “Great White Shark”
- Marine Sciences: “Acid Ocean”
- Ocean Issues: “The Last Ocean”
- Presenter Led Program: “Revolution”
- Shorts: “Gyre”
- Short Shorts (Under Three Minutes): “The Beauty of Mangrove Forests”
- Student Filmmaker: “Maly Cousteau”
- Surfing and Ocean Sports: “Sine Qua Non: Psychology of Big Wave Surfing”
- Special Jury Recognition for 3D: “Great White Shark”
The BLUE Ocean Film Festival also featured two prestigious awards for outstanding accomplishments in environmental stewardship:
The “Making Waves Award” went to Sir Richard Branson for his valiant efforts in Ocean Conservancy. The “Making Waves Award” honors those, who, in the words of the West Point Cadet Maxim, “risk more than others think is safe, care more than others think is wise, dream more than others think is practical, and expect more that others think is possible.”
The BLUE Ocean Legacy Award was awarded to world-renowned Marine Scientist Dr. Eugenie 
“Genie” Clark. Dr. Clark has packed the first nine decades of her life with a remarkable collection of adventures and scientific achievements. Best known by her nickname “The Shark Lady,” Clark still swims nose to nose with some of the ocean’s most fascinating and sometimes feared inhabitants.
BLUE sponsors include: Rolex, Disney Nature, Google, City of St. Petersburg, St Petersburg Clearwater, Bill Edwards Presents, Bright House Networks, Glass is Life, Muvico Theaters, Tampa Bay Times, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, HealthCareIQ, Poynter Institute, Make a Difference Media, Earth Advertising, Paradise, and many others.
For information visit: www.blueoceanfilmfestival.org.