Maritime Media Awards Nominations 2026

Over 60 entries were received in 2026 – Meet the nominees of the Maritime Media Awards

Nominees

The Maritime Media Awards recognises the UK’s best journalists, authors, filmmakers, digital creators and others whose work in the media has created a greater public understanding of maritime issues, and of the UK’s dependence upon the sea.

The Maritime Media Awards continues to highlight the UK’s best journalists, authors, filmmakers, digital creators and others who in the past year have excelled in creating greater public understanding of the maritime environment.

I am positively encouraged by this year’s nominees, and our judges look forward to selecting the best in each category. The Maritime Foundation looks forward to celebrating this year’s winners at the Maritime Media Awards Ceremony at the Royal Thames Yacht Club in London on Tuesday, 10 November.

Richard Clayton
Chair of the Maritime Foundation

The Desmond Wettern Award for Best Journalism

The Award is made to the individual whose thinking or writing, in the opinion of the Awards Committee, has made the most decisive contribution in informing and influencing public awareness of future maritime issues during the qualifying period.

NOMINEES

Best Book of the Year

The Award is made to the author of the work of literature published in English during the qualifying period that, in the opinion of the Awards Committee, has contributed most significantly to public engagement with maritime issues.

NOMINEES

  • Hugh Francis Anderson
    Our Future Below: The Game-Changing Science of Ocean Exploration
    Insight Editions
  • Mark Ashley-Miller
    Harbours and their Masters: Sailing into (nearly) every harbour in Britain & Ireland
    Fernhurst Books
  • Paul Brown
    Secret Warriors: British Submarines in the Cold War
    Osprey Publishing
  • Nick Collins
    The Ascent of Maritime Trade 1700-2025: Enlightening the World
    Pen & Sword History
  • David Craddock
    Admiral Sir Reginald Bacon: Driving Change in Naval Technology, 1900–1918
    Seaforth Publishing
  • Steve R Dunn
    Tragedy and Revenge: The Battles of Coronel & the Falklands, 1914
    Seaforth Publishing
  • David Gange
    Afloat: Small Boats, Swell and Seaspray
    William Collins
  • Dr David Gibbins
    The Quest for El Dorado: Sir Walter Ralegh and the City of Gold
    Bloomsbury Publishing
  • Dominic Gregory
    Lifeboat at the End of the World: A Volunteer’s Story, from an RNLI crewman in Dungeness
    William Collins
  • David Griffiths, Martin Kelly
    Coastal Motor Boats: Thornycroft and the Origins of Fast Attack Craft
    Seaforth Publishing
  • Alan Harper
    Master and Cartographer: A Life of Captain Greenvile Collins, the Man who Charted Britain and Helped Change the Course of History
    The History Press
  • Mark Harris
    The First World War in the Baltic Sea Volume 1: Essen’s triumph, 1914 to February 1915
    Helion & Company
  • Commodore Richard Harris
    D’you Hear There!: Daily Pipes of the Royal Navy
    Osprey Publishing
  • Siddharth Kara
    The Zorg: A Tale of Greed, Murder and the Abolition of Slavery
    Doubleday
  • Alston Kennerley
    British Merchant Seafarer Training and Education: A History
    Boydell Press
  • Angus Konstam
    Lords of the Salt Road: The Norse Earls of Orkney and the Viking World
    Osprey Publishing
  • Ian Kumekawa
    Empty Vessel: The Story of the Global Economy in One Ship
    John Murray
  • Andrew Lambert
    No More Napoleons: How Britain Managed Europe from Waterloo to World War One
    Yale University Press
  • Simon Matthews
    A Study in Failure: Churchill at the Admiralty, 1939– 1940
    Oldcastle Books
  • Maeve McGoran
    Shipwreck: How a Captain, Company, and Culture Sank the SS El Faro
    Audible Originals
  • Aimee Mook
    The Ocean Map: Exploring our Watery World
    National Maritime Museum
  • Paul O’Keeffe
    Trafalgar: Battle & Aftermath
    Bodley Head
  • Marcus Rediker
    Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea
    Viking
  • Andrei Romanov
    Masters of the Ocean Sea: The Epic Saga of the Portuguese Explorers Who Redrew the Map of the World
    Sagres Heritage Press
  • Julian Sancton
    Neptune’s Fortune: The Billion-Dollar Shipwreck and the Ghosts of the Spanish Empire
    WH Allen
  • Jo Stanley
    Seafaring Women Through History
    The History Press
  • Mark Stille
    Pearl Harbor: Japan’s Greatest Disaster
    Osprey Publishing
  • David Tuch
    The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade
    Icon Books

Best Film and Television

The Award is made to the director, producer, or other person responsible for making the film or television programme, released or broadcast in the United Kingdom during the qualifying period, that in the opinion of the Awards Committee has significantly influenced understanding of, or participation in, the maritime dimension.

NOMINEES

  • A Ship Through Time: Secrets of the Newport Ship
    Catrin Evans
    One Tribe TV/S4C & Sky History
  • Black Waters: The Sea Empress Disaster
    Catrin Evans
    Afanti/BBC One Wales
  • Building the Impossible
    Simon Smith
    October Films/5
  • Coastguard: Search and Rescue SOS
    Andy Smythe
    Middlechild Productions/5
  • Disaster at Sea: The Piper Alpha Story
    Grace Kirkwood
    BBC Studios Specialist Factual Productions/BBC Scotland
  • Dover 24/7: Britain’s Busiest Port
    Chris Hackett
    ITN Productions/Channel 4
  • Inside the World’s Most Luxurious… Yachts
    Jon Connerty, Elaine Hackett
    Crackit TV/Channel 4
  • Lost Ships of WW2
    Rob Kraft
    Lone Wolf Media/National Geographic
  • Millionaire Superyacht: Why Ships Sink
    Carlo Massarella
    Windfall Films/BBC Two
  • Our Living Coast
    Sarah Breen
    Afro-Mic Productions/UTV
  • Sailing the Shipping Forecast with the Rev Richard Coles
    Gill Brown, Emma Fentiman, Steve Wynne
    Strawberry Blond/Channel 4
  • Saving Lives at Sea
    David Mackay
    Blast Films/BBC Two
  • Supercruising: Life at Sea
    Ashley Golder, Mark Stanton
    Crackit TV/Channel 4
  • The Cruise: Fun-Loving Brits at Sea
    Adam Al-Samarae, Molly Fraser
    Title Role Productions/5
  • Titanic: Secrets of the Shipwreck
    Nick Watts
    Afro-Mic Productions/Channel 4
  • Titanic Sinks Tonight
    Rebecca Fairbank
    Stellify Media/BBC Two
  • Warship: Life in the Royal Navy
    Mark Tattersall
    True North Productions/5
  • Warship: Life on the Frontline
    Mark Tattersall
    True North Productions/5

Best Use of Digital Media

The Award is made to the individual or institution that, in the opinion of the Awards Committee, has achieved through digital media the most positive influence and stimulated the most change in the understanding or environment of any or all aspects of the maritime dimension.

NOMINEES