ITF Seafarers’ Trust LIFE AT SEA 2026 Prize Photography Competition
Calling all seafarers! Win £1000 for the best photograph of Life at Sea 2026.
The ITF Seafarers’ Trust invites you to submit your best photographs of Life at Sea in 2026. Share the good times, the bad times, the extraordinary and the ordinary day-to-day of life onboard. Snap action shots or moments of reflection. Immortalise your crew mates and capture what it’s really like living and working onboard. If you’re a seafarer but haven’t been able to join a ship in 2026 don’t despair – we want to hear from you too - send us meaningful shots of the life of a seafarer ashore.
From 2020, the ITF Seafarers’ Trust photo competitions have provided us with a remarkable photographic archive with which we aim to promote awareness of the essential work of seafaring.
From exhibitions at the IMO and ILO, the National Maritime Museum Greenwich, UK, the L.A. Maritime Museum in Los Angeles, U.S.A. to touring exhibitions in the Philippines and Germany - we’ve been proud to share your stories.
What we want from you
We are looking for striking images and interesting accounts to give people ashore an insight into the lives of seafarers. Photos and stories that show what Life at Sea is really like.
Include a caption or short account with your photo(s). Write in English or your mother tongue. Tell us about the photo and about yourself. If your picture shows someone else, please ensure you have their permission to submit their image for use in this project.
Please provide the largest possible file size when you save and upload your photos. Select ‘Actual size’ on your phone. Please note that ‘selfies’ taken using the front camera result in smaller file sizes so should be avoided. Likewise edited images may result in lower quality photos. Avoid sending images with date stamps, text, water marks or logos. Please do not forward smaller images from other platforms like Instagram or Facebook. If you have limited bandwidth or connection, you may need to choose a time to upload when fewer other crew members are using the internet or wait until you are closer to shore. If you can only send a small image but have retained a larger file let us know in the space for text so that we can contact you.
Prizes:
1st prize £1,000
2nd prize £750
3rd prize £500
This competition is open to all serving seafarers.
Seafarers are encouraged to submit images of between 1Mb and 5Mb with a recommendation to be between 300 and 1024 pixels along the longest side. You are advised to keep an original copy in the largest possible format. Shortlisted entries may be contacted and requested to supply images in the largest possible file size. Images must have a file name and caption and be in JPEG or HEIC format.
Each entrant can submit a maximum of 3 images.
Click this link to submit your photos
The Life At Sea Project
Since 2020, the ITF Seafarers’ Trust photo competitions have provided us with a remarkable photographic archive with which to promote awareness of the essential work of seafaring.
From exhibitions at the IMO and ILO, Maritime Museums around the world, to touring exhibitions in the Philippines and Germany - we’ve been proud to share your stories. The archive Life at Sea website holds the unique collection of images and stories submitted to the ITF Seafarers’ Trust’s annual photography competition which started in 2020.
Our purpose is to raise the profile of the vital work of seafarers and provide an unfiltered insight into life at sea. Find out more here: www.lifeatsea.co.uk