- The Maritime Foundation has announced the 2025 winners in the five categories of its annual media awards.
- Maritime Foundation Chair, Richard Clayton announced the winners at the annual Maritime Media Awards Ceremony in London.
- Two winners of the Desmond Wettern Award for Best Writer are journalists Pete Sandeman and Tom Sharpe OBE.
- Winners were selected from over 90 nominations in journalism, literary, film and television, and social and immersive media.
The Maritime Foundation announced the 2025 winners of the Maritime Media Awards at its annual Maritime Media Awards Ceremony at Six Park Place in London.
The Awards were hosted by Maritime Foundation Chair, Richard Clayton. The night included a keynote speech from Blue Ocean Marine Tech Systems Managing Director, James King, on the technological advances in underwater autonomous drones.
The 2025 Maritime Media Awards winners are:
- The Desmond Wettern Award for Best Writer: Pete Sandeman, Navy Lookout and Tom Sharpe OBE, The Telegraph.
- The Maritime Foundation Award for Best Book: Helen Sampson, Sea-Time: An Ethnographic Adventure, Routledge.
- The Maritime Foundation Award for Best Illustrated Book: Nicholas Nugent, Spice Ports: Mapping the Origins of Global Sea Trade, British Library Publishing.
- The Donald Gosling Award for Best Audio-Visual Production: Mark Monroe, Titan: The OceanGate Disaster, Diamond Docs & Story Syndicate/Netflix.
- The Maritime Foundation Award for the Most Influential Use of Social and Immersive Media: Joe Furness, Joe the Sailor.
“Once again these awards revealed some surprises, highlighted serious concerns, and celebrated excellence across the full spectrum of maritime media. Communication is key to successful security and business, and there is nothing more rewarding than to hear how people of all ages respond to good storytelling.
This year, the Foundation shone a light on the writing of Pete Sandeman and Tom Sharpe OBE for speaking truth to power, Joe Furness for his remarkable engagement on TikTok and Instagram, and Professor Helen Sampson for her dedication to the life and work of generations of merchant seafarers.
However, the films Fatal Watch: Dead Men Tell the Ocean’s Secrets and Disclosure: Slavery at Sea and Human Rights at Sea: Death at Sea highlighted criminal and unconscionable activity both far out at sea and much closer to home. These are important issues which must be revealed to a much wider audience.
The strength of the Maritime Foundation is its ability to encourage maritime to salute best practices while shaming the worst behaviour.”
Richard Clayton
Chair of the Maritime Foundation
The 2025 Winners
Pete Sandeman, Editor, Navy Lookout
For almost two decades, Pete Sandeman has developed Navy Lookout to become a major outlet for naval journalism, with insightful news stories, and nuanced and carefully researched commentary which is regularly picked up by mainstream media.
Tom Sharpe OBE, Columnist, The Telegraph
Following in the footsteps of Desmond Wettern for whom these awards are dedicated to, Tom, who is a former Royal Navy Commander uses his 27-year military career to provide expert maritime and defence analysis to The Telegraph, as well as making regular appearances on radio and television.
Helen Sampson, Sea-Time: An Ethnographic Adventure, Routledge
Professor Helen tackles the appalling conditions in which many seafarers work in, handling the state of today’s merchant shipping industry, explaining the demise of family-owner shipping firms by takeovers, consolidation and mergers, painting a deeply personal, yet academically rooted picture of shipboard life, vividly portraying the ways in which autonomy and authority have been eroded, and how working lives have deteriorated in recent years. Sea-Time deserves to be read not just in shipping circles, but across the global trading ecosystem.
Nicholas Nugent, Spice Ports: Mapping the Origins of Global Sea Trade, British Library Publishing
Nicholas’ account of the origins of global sea trade uses original maps and contemporary views to illustrate how spices stimulated the development of ports around the world, from Amsterdam and Lisbon, and Goa and Bombay, and afar, bringing maritime history to life in a richly engaging way with this beautifully illustrated book.
Mark Monroe, Titan: The OceanGate Disaster, Diamond Docs & Story Syndicate/Netflix
Diamond Docs and Story Syndicate used first-hand footage and interviews with those involved in the OceanGate disaster to reveal how warnings were brushed aside, and how attempts to put right structural weaknesses were met with brutal threats. Skilful and painstaking forensic journalism was backed by first-rate production values, without any unnecessary sensationalism, to deliver a truly outstanding documentary.
Joe Furness, Joe the Sailor
With over 400k followers and 7 million likes to date, LNG Chief Officer, Joe Furness uses social media to cover an amazing range of aspects and topics from working on board ship, to life at sea, getting across the important message to a much younger age group of how vital shipping is to the United Kingdom and worldwide, and the realities of working at sea.
The Foundation awarded three Special Recognition Awards for Dedication Beyond a Single Challenge to:
- Windfall Films
- N. A. M. Rodger
- Blue Marine Foundation
In addition, The Royal Navy crowned HMS Iron Duke the winner of the annual Desmond Wettern Fleet Award for the Best Contribution to a Positive Image of the Royal Navy. Iron Duke has played a central role in shadowing Russian warships transiting through UK waters – completing 19 such missions in the past year, demonstrating not only tactical precision but careful coordination to ensure accurate, timely, and compelling communication of the Royal Navy’s actions.
The event was sponsored by Blue Ocean Marine Tech Systems, Portland Port, Langham Wine Estate, and the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity who supported the event’s musical performance by the Vaults Trio.
The winners of this year’s awards were selected by the Maritime Foundation Executive Committee and members of the Maritime Media Awards Judging Panel, a diverse group of volunteers dedicated to the vital role maritime plays in the prosperity, security, and sustainability of our island nation.