The boot dive award

Alexander Kaßler graduated from the Technical University of Munich with a degree in sports/media and communications science. After working in sports communications for Daimler AG and German sports television, he completed his traineeship as an editor at Olympia Verlag in Nuremberg. There he worked as an editor for the diving magazine "unterwasser" since 2005. In addition to various training and further education courses, including as a diving instructor and photographer, he took over as editor-in-chief of "unterwasser" in 2018. Since the merger of the two magazine titles "unterwasser" and "TAUCHEN" into Europe's largest commercial diving magazine "TAUCHEN" in 2020, he has presided over the title as responsible editor-in-chief.

Dietmar W. Fuchs has been working as editor-in-chief for international diving magazines since September 1988. He is the founding editor-in-chief of the magazines "unterwasser" (Germany) and "Scuba Diving through the lens" (Singapore), as well as editor-in-chief and art director of "Edition Fifty Fathoms" (Switzerland), the only art magazine dedicated to underwater photography - for which he had the privilege of curating the first underwater photography exhibition at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in 2014 for "World Ocean Day".

In addition to studying communication science, Fuchs studied biology at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and immediately took home an Honorable Mention in the Rolex Award for his thesis on "Breeding the Maritime Fencer Snail."
Somehow watches have stayed with him until today and he has become an expert on the history(s) of exclusive diving watches.

In the field of diving, Fuchs is only honorary editor-in-chief of the members' magazine of the Verband deutscher Sporttaucher e.v., The "VDSTsporttaucher" reaches a good 80,000 members in printed form by subscription, making it Europe's largest diving magazine, as well as co-editor-in-chief of the "divemaster".

In his former life, he worked for several years as a treasure diver in Puerto Rico and as a diving instructor and charter boat captain in the Windward Islands. In 1985, Fuchs founded "NAUI Germany" and spent the first years of Technical Diving alongside Bret Gilliam. Thanks to his friendship with Umberto Pelizzari, he brought the first apnea diving competitions to Germany in 1995, and just one year later, as team captain of the first German National Apnea Team, he won the bronze medal in the legendary AIDA World Cup. He also co-initiated the underwater, now SSI Dive Trophy. So no matter what topic he touches in diving, Fuchs knows pretty much what he is writing about or publishing.

Dr. Friedrich Naglschmid, publisher and editor-in-chief of the trade magazine divemaster, has been connected to the world under water since his earliest youth. Even during his studies, Naglschmid, who is now a publisher, book author and editor of the diving magazine divemaster, was active as a journalist and campaigned actively for the protection of species and the environment. Since the 1970s, Naglschmid, who holds a doctorate in biology, has been committed to these goals on a voluntary basis, in addition to his professional activities in teaching and environmental education at the time. He was a co-founder of the Aktionsgemeinschaft Artenschutz and representative of the Cousteau petition in Germany, as well as a founding member of the Förderkreis Sporttauchen. From 1976 on, he was a member of the board of the German Scuba Divers Association, first as the first head of the department for research and environmental protection, then in 1986 as vice president and from 1996 to 2000 as president, shaping its development in the field of nature sports. Already in the 1980s he designed the first environmental guidelines for ecological and sustainable diving, "Manifestos against UW hunters, UW culture robbers, environmental destroyers and water polluters" and introduced the "Ten Golden Rules for Sport Divers". His motto to this day: "Dive like your shadow, leave no trace".

Nina Zschiesche, born in 1978, was already writing for the culture and theme pages of daily newspapers and magazines during her studies in philosophy and German language and literature. After a traineeship at the diving magazines "unterwasser" and "Sporttaucher," which were then based at the same publishing house, she worked for many years as an editor at "Sporttaucher. Since 2018, she has been editor-in-chief and part owner of the tech diving magazine WETNOTES. Diving is not only her professional passion, she also spends every free minute under water in her private life.