Winners of the 26th annual Maritime Media Awards were announced last night in a pre-recorded online broadcast presented by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry CBE from on board HQS Wellington – home to the Honourable Company of Master Mariners – at its permanent mooring off London’s Victoria Embankment.
This year’s prestigious Desmond Wettern Award for Best Journalism was awarded for the first time posthumously to the late Editor of Fishing News, David Linkie. The highly-respected journalist was honoured for his dedication, travelling the length and breadth of Britain, chasing news and stories, and enthusiastically promoting the interests, image and work of the fishing sector.
“I’m really pleased to hear that David has won the Desmond Wettern Award,” said Tim Oliver, former Fishing News Editor, “David was the most committed, passionate and enthusiastic reporter that you could possibly have on the fishing industry. He loved the industry and he knew almost every fisherman throughout Britain and Ireland. He travelled incessantly from Newlyn to Shetland to report on new boats and new port features. He turned his hobby into his profession and loved what he did. It is a pity that he isn’t still with us to receive this award.”
The Desmond Wettern Fleet Award was awarded by the Royal Navy to 45 Commando Royal Marines, an amphibious commando unit that forms part of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines. These elite troops conduct a range of operational tasks at home and across the globe.
One Ocean Hub (oneoceanhub.org), an international programme of research for sustainable development and ocean health, funded by UK Research and Innovation won The Babcock International First Sea Lord’s Award for Best Use of Digital Media for its clever and strikingly designed website, available in six languages, offering regular, interesting and captivating research bulletins and a blog championing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Certificates of Merit were awarded to Illuminated River (illuminatedriver.london) and to the Thames Festival Trust (thamesfestivaltrust.org).
The Mountbatten Award for Best Book was won by Andrew Boyd for his important and impressive book British Naval Intelligence through the Twentieth Century, published by Seaforth Publishing, a comprehensive and scholarly account of the subject by an author who is well qualified by his knowledge of naval matters. Certificate of Merits were awarded to Angus Konstam for Mutiny on the Spanish Main: HMS Hermione and the Royal Navy’s Revenge, Julian Sancton for Madhouse at the End of the Earth and Helen Scales for The Brilliant Abyss: True Tales of Exploring the Deep Sea, Discovering Hidden Life and Selling the Seabed.
The Donald Gosling Award for Best Television or Film Production was awarded to Henrik Evertsson and Monster for the Discovery Channel docuseries Estonia: The Find That Changes Everything, which re-examined the tragic loss of the ferry Estonia in the face of intense official disapproval and led directly to a reopening of the investigation into the disaster. Jess Howe and Folk Films for BBC Two’s Cornwall: This Fishing Life and Tim Usborne and Artlab Films for Channel 5’s On Board Britain’s Nuclear Submarine: Trident were awarded Certificate of Merits.
Richard Clayton, Chairman of the Awards Committee, said: “The Maritime Media Awards are unique, they celebrate dedication and commitment to the maritime sector, and they do that while balancing an understanding of the past, encouragement of the present and offering a vision of a cleaner, greener and more sustainable future. The media landscape has changed significantly since the Maritime Foundation launched the Awards and it will continue to evolve, but whatever medium we use, we will continue to praise excellence, accuracy and ambition.”
The Foundation plans to host the annual dinner and presentation of both 2020 and 2021 awards in 2022 at Drapers’ Hall.
Maritime 2021, the latest edition of the Foundation’s free annual magazine was published ahead of the Awards presentation and is available online and in print, click here for details on how to order copies.
Watch the Awards 2021:
Notes to editors:
- The Maritime Media Awards 2021 Reception and Dinner will take place in 2022.
- The Maritime Foundation’s purpose is to promote Britain’s interests across the entire maritime sector and to inform and raise public and parliamentary awareness of the importance of Britain’s maritime industries, commerce and defence through education, training and research projects.
- The Maritime Foundation established the Maritime Media Awards in 1995 in memory of Desmond Wettern, former naval correspondent of the Daily Telegraph.
- Details of past winners can be found at maritimefoundation.uk/awards/winners/
For further information about the Maritime Foundation please visit www.maritimefoundation.uk
For press enquires please contact pr@maritimefoundation.uk