If your photography centers around the sea and sailing adventures, then it’s time to enter the Brian Black Memorial Award before the competition closes on September 1, 2025. It’s not just a competition, it’s a platform for photographers and storytellers who are engaging with one of the most important subjects of our time: the changing state of our oceans.
The Black family, with Yachting Monthly, established the award in honor of environmental broadcast journalist Brian Black – a passionate sailor whose writing and filmmaking highlighted the crises facing fragile Arctic ecosystems. His wife, Lesley Black, was also a sailor and author, and became Northern Ireland’s first female yacht club commodore.
What makes the award stand out is its focus on environmental storytelling. It recognizes not only the quality of your images, but the thought behind them – the way you observe, document, and share what’s happening in the marine world.
This year’s theme, “Our Changing Seas,” invites you to reflect on how the ocean is shifting – and what that means for those who live with, depend on, or simply love the sea. That might be a story of climate impact in a remote anchorage, or a quiet, local encounter with marine life. It could be something joyful or deeply unsettling. The point is: it’s yours to tell. And you can submit your work to the adult photo competition, adult article competition, or junior photo competition.
There are practical reasons to enter, of course. The award offers £3,000 in prize money, Canon camera equipment, and publication opportunities. And YM will also be donating £1,000 to the marine conservation funding charity Sea-Changers.
Beyond the prize, this is an opportunity to have your work seen by a wider audience and to be recognized for using your photography in a way that contributes to something larger.
So if you’re sailing adventures shed fresh light on marine environmental issues, take a moment and look through your work – there is something worth sharing. You can find more information about the Brian Black Memorial Award and how to submit your work on YM’s website.
Author: Kim Bunermann
Source: DigitalCameraWorld
Reviewed By: Editorial Team
