Brian Black Memorial Award 2022: £4,000 for environmental sailing stories, sponsored by B&G

Yachting Monthly's Brian Black Memorial Award for marine environmental journalism with B&G returns for 2022. Here are the details of how to win £4,000

Greenland Summer. Brian Black Memorial Award

Brian Black Memorial Award 2022

Have you had an amazing adventure at sea, whether close to home or in remote corners? Have you spotted whales while sailing, found Arctic ice, or gathered marine data along the way?

If you have been on a sailing voyage with an environmental twist, we’d love to read about it, and you could win £4,000 in the process.

In association with

Yachting Monthly’s Brian Black Memorial Award, which celebrates the best writing about marine environmental issues as explored by sailing boat, is sponsored by marine electronics company B&G Navico.

Entry criteria

Entries should be submitted via https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/YM-BBMAAward2022
Articles should be in electronic written format as Microsoft Word or Plain Text documents with no inserted images. Include a 100 word biography about yourself, your sailing background, and the boat you were sailing on.
Between 20 and 30 high resolution images (1MB or larger) only should be supplied via Dropbox, WeTransfer or GoogleDrive link and should be clearly labelled in the file name and with a list of images in the text document. As well of general images of people, places, and photos of the issues described, please include images of the boat sailed (taken during the voyage where possible), a head shot of the author, and a sketch chart of the route taken.
Links to supporting video can be included but will not form part of the judging decision.
Entries should be between 1,700-1,900 words in length and articles above this length will not be considered.
Entries should be submitted no later than 7 August 2022. Entries received after this date will not be considered.
Entries are limited to one article per person.
The entry must be the original work of the author and not have been previously published.
Images submitted need not have been taken solely by the author, but they should be specific to the project or voyage, and the author must have written permission to submit the images for publication in print and online. Images and articles may be shared in their original context by supporting organisations and sponsors for the purpose of promoting the award.

Additional guidance

The judges are looking for articles that focus on the issues of climate change and biodiversity loss, told through the detail of your story.
Entries are invited from anyone who has recently used a sailing boat or sailing voyage to explore an environmental issue, or who has encountered environmental issues whilst sailing and has a story to tell.
There is no geographical limit to where the voyage should have been undertaken, but a special mention will be made of the best article concerning high latitude sailing to reflect Brian and Lesley Black’s lifelong commitment to sailing in the Arctic and North Atlantic.
The judges are looking for great stories told well and will focus primarily on the quality of the writing.
Articles should be illustrated with beautiful photography
Articles should inform, educate and inspire the reader about a particular area and environmental issue.

Judging

The panel of judges includes:

Round the world race winner, multiple world champion Mike Golding OBE
Six-time circumnavigator and Volvo Ocean Race skipper Dee Caffari MBE
Conservation expert Dr Robert Brown OBE
Marine environmental consultant and daughter of Brian and Lesley Black, Sarah Brown
The Yachting Monthly editorial team

Prizes

The winning entry will receive:

A cash prize of £2,500
A donation of £1,500 to the marine conservation charity Sea-Changers
A unique trophy to keep
Publication of their work in Yachting Monthly magazine and website.
A presentation hosted by Yachting Monthly and the judging panel
The right to use the award logo
The winner for this year’s award will be announced at the Southampton Boat Show on Friday 16 September 2022. All entrants are welcome to attend, but you will be notified at least one week prior to the event if you have won or are a runner up. Please keep this date free to attend in person if possible.

Terms and Conditions of the Brian Black Memorial Award 2022

By taking part, you agree to be bound by these terms and the Competition Rules: https://www.futureplc.com/competition-rules/.

Entries must be submitted via https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/YM-BBMAAward2022, by 23:59 BST on 7 August 2022.

Late or incomplete entries, or entries which do not comply with the entry requirements, will be disqualified. Entries are limited to one per individual.

Open to anyone aged 16 and over, except employees of Future Publishing Limited (“Future”) and B&G Ltd (Navico) (“Sponsor”).

Entrants aged under 18 represent and warrant that a parent/guardian has consented to the entry and to these terms.

The winner will be selected by the judging panel in its sole discretion from all entries validly submitted.

Entries will be judged on the quality of writing and how the story informs, educates and inspires on the issues of climate change and biodiversity.

The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

The winner will be notified by email at least 1 week prior to the award presentation at the Southampton Boat Show on 16 September 2022 (subject to any governmental restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic).

There will be one (1) winner entitled to (i) a £2,500 cash prize (or local currency equivalent), (ii) a £1,500 donation to marine conservation charity Sea-Changers, (iii) a unique trophy to keep, (iv) the publication of their winning entry in the November 2022 issue of Yachting Monthly magazine and on the website, (v) the right to use the official award logo, and (vi) a goodie bag from B&G.

Any US resident winning $600 or more worth of prizes from a Sponsor in a calendar year will receive an IRS form 1099 after the end of the calendar year in which the prizes were awarded, and a copy of such form will be filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The value of the prize may be taxable as income and each prize winner is solely responsible for any taxes, including, but not limited to all applicable federal, state, and local taxes that become due with respect to the value of the prize.

Sponsor (or a third party acting on its behalf) must report the value of the prize to the IRS in the year the prize is received by the prize winner and will report the prize winner to the IRS.

Prize(s) will not be fulfilled where prohibited or restricted by law.

The prize is non-transferable and non-refundable. There is no cash alternative.

Up to two runners up will be selected and will receive (i) a goodie bag from B&G and (ii) publication of their article in Yachting Monthly at a later date and on the website.

You retain all rights you have in the copyright and other intellectual property rights comprising your entry but, by entering the Competition, you grant Future, its licensees and the Sponsor, the right free of charge to republish your entry in any medium or format.

By entering this competition you acknowledge and agree that Future shall have no liability for any loss, damage or injury suffered by you or others (i) during the process of submitting your entry, and/or (ii) while travelling to and from the Southampton Boat Show (if you choose to attend).

You also warrant that your entry is entirely your own work and will not infringe any third party intellectual property rights, and that Future shall have no liability as a result of any actual or threatened claim that your entry infringes third party intellectual property rights.

In association with B&G

Yachting Monthly editor Theo Stocker said: “We are delighted to have B&G as sponsor for a second year for the Brian Black Memorial Award, and it shows how seriously sailors and industry are now taking stewardship of the marine environment. It is great to see a company like B&G leading the way in addressing their environmental impact and we look forward to others following suit. We are also excited to see what amazing stories this award will bring to light about the marine world we all love.”

B&G Navico’s sustainability agenda includes: removing all single use plastics from their packaging and using only recyclable materials from this year; reducing company air travel by 90%; reducing paper used in their offices by 95%; and decreasing energy consumption for IT equipment from 305,000kWh to 250,000kWh.They are also opening up their BioBase platform, which processes, maps and stores spatial aquatic data, free of charge to government bodies and research institutes, to support aquatic conservation.

The award is also supported by:

Brian Black sailing in Greenland. Credit: Black family