Maritime charity announces winner of annual photography competition

A national maritime charity that provides financial support to former seafarers has announced the winner of its 10th annual photography competition.

The Shipwrecked Mariner’s Society encouraged entrants to submit pictures that captured the UK’s enduring connection with the sea, such as merchant ships, fishermen, coastline, harbours and ports.

Justin Minns was awarded the 2022 Overall Winner for his entry ‘The Old Oyster Beds’, an aerial shot showing a shipwreck next to Oyster beds taken in Brightlingsea, Essex, and won a £500 prize voucher for photographic equipment.

Over 1,000 entries from both amateur and professional photographers were judged by a panel of experts at Trinity House in September.

Online picture editor at The Telegraph Neil Stevenson was joined by fellow judges: former Sunday Times picture editor Ray Wells, picture editor of the i Sophie Batterbury, and chief executive of the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society Captain Justin Osmond RN.

The charity, which has given £1.3 million in grants over the past year to fisherman, merchant mariners and their dependants who are suffering financial hardship, also awarded further prizes.

Mr Minns also won the Ships and Wrecks category for his picture of a boat on the beach in front of a bright red sunset at Thames Estuary, Essex, titled ‘Scattered’.

‘Unicorn’, taken by Andrew Hocking, which shows a rainbow above waves crashing against a rockbed in Godrevy, Cornwall, won the Coastal Views category, and Jason Thompson was awarded the People and Recreation category award for his image of a jumping dog called ‘My Playground’ taken on Skegness Beach.

Jonathon Killick’s picture of wind turbines at sea, aptly named ‘Wind Turbine’, was taken in Lincolnshire and took home the Industry category first place.

Captain Osmond said: “As we are now in the 10th year of the photography competition, it is amazing to see the nation still enjoying our coastlines and supporting our maritime industry with a passion.

“To receive the same fantastic standard of images as when we first launched the competition a decade ago is brilliant to see.

“Our seafaring community continues to face significant challenges every year, despite the outstanding contribution it makes to our lives, so it is important that we are able to use the competition as a platform to acknowledge and celebrate our maritime industry and ensure that those working within it have access to vital support.

“We thought that Justin Minns’ winning image, ‘The Old Oyster Beds’, really encapsulated the beauty in Britain’s coastlines, an area of the fishing industry which can often feel neglected, but was particularly striking with the shipwreck’s presence alongside the oyster beds.”