2012 Film Festival Winners

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Capt. Don Walsh to Receive BLUE's Lifetime Achievement in Ocean Exploration Award

Ask the well-known personalities currently leading deep-sea exploration who inspires them, and you’ll likely hear “Capt. Don Walsh.” Capt. Walsh will be honored with the Award for Lifetime Achievement in Ocean Exploration at BLUE Ocean Film Festival’s Legacy Awards Dinner.

In 1960, as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, Walsh and the late Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard became the first men to descend to the lowest part of the Marianas Trench. They held the record for manned descent for over 50 years—until James Cameron’s Deepsea Challenge expedition earlier this year.  In fact, Capt. Walsh supported his filmmaker friend on that successful expedition.

In addition to ongoing exploration and ocean research around the world, Walsh initiated and directed the University of Southern California’s Institute for Marine and Coastal Studies.

Walsh is the recipient of the National Geographic Society’s top honor, the Hubbard Medal, received the Distinguished Public Service Award from the U.S. Navy, and was named one of “the world’s greatest explorers” by Life magazine.

Legacy Events

The Legacy Awards Dinner will be an exclusive event for Benefactor Passholders and major industry sponsors. Following the dinner, Patron Passholders are invited to join BLUE for a Legacy Awards Reception celebrating the accomplishments of these two groundbreaking ocean explorers and advocates.