Shipwrecked Mariners’ photo competition launched

The Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society is once again on the lookout for photographers to submit their favourite images of the sea, for its ninth annual competition honouring the UK’s proud maritime heritage, reports John Periam.

Launched to mark the charity’s Seafarers Support Week, the competition encourages photographers of all abilities to submit images that capture the UK’s unique relationship with the sea, including its fishermen, merchant ships, coasts, harbours and ports.

Justin Osmond RN, the society’s chief executive, said: “This is one event that we all look forward to running each year. Our Chichester-based office team enjoy seeing the entries arriving each day, and are amazed at the quality of many of the images submitted. There are certainly a lot of ‘happy snappers’ out there who love taking images of our nautical island life.”

Technology has changed, and the society has been impressed by the image quality that can now be achieved on phone cameras, which opens the competition up to a whole new contingent of entrants.

Due to the Covid -19 pandemic which has restricted travel during the year, the society is again encouraging people to look through their photo albums and submit images old and new.

The judging panel will be online picture editor of the Telegraph Neil Stevenson, former Sunday Times picture editor Ray Wells, picture editor of the i magazine Sophie Batterbury, and Justin Osmond. The overall winner will receive a £500 equipment voucher.

Last year saw a record-breaking number of entries covering all aspects of nautical life. “The competition allows us to showcase and celebrate our relationship with the sea, which sadly is often out of sight and mind – but it truly is essential in keeping us going as an island nation whilst enabling us to go about our daily lives,” said Justin.

Full competition details and information on how to enter can be found here.

This story was taken from the latest issue of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.30 here.