The winners of a prestigious maritime photography competition will receive their awards this week during a dedicated ceremony at the Crew Connect conference.
The ITF Seafarers’ Trust 2022 Life At Sea competition was an opportunity for seafarers to showcase their experiences by taking shots from their mobile phones. From the thousands of images submitted, first, second and third prizes are to be awarded on Thursday in Manila, along with a further two in the highly commended category.
Winner San Ko Oo from Myanmar is set to be awarded first prize for his photograph entitled ‘Homesick’ which features a fellow crew member on the phone to his family back home while on board a vessel for several months.
He said: "The person in the photo is from our vessel. It was something like one hour until sunset and we were going to take dinner together. While he was talking to his family on the phone I saw his mood and the light coming from the window onto him, at that moment I grabbed my camera and took the photo just in time.
"I won the first prize unexpectedly and I am very happy and proud."
Life at sea is the latest in a series of Trust photo competitions bringing together images of seafarers by seafarers.
Head of the Trust Katie Higginbottom said: “From the beginning our aim was to collect imagery and commentary to raise awareness about their (seafarers’) situation during the crew change crisis and to highlight the vital role of seafarers in transporting all the goods that are traded around the world.
“It’s about bringing the seafarers into the room when international regulations are being negotiated. It's about connecting the human lives to the ‘human element’ and it's also about educating the non-maritime public.”
As well as the award ceremony, there will be an exhibition of photos submitted to the Trust competition at the conference venue from 22-24 November.
ENDS
For further information please contact:
Mary Bollan
Office and Communications Manager
+44 (0) 20 7940 9315
Follow us on Facebook @ITFTrust and Instagram @SeafarersTrust to see more of the images and stories that seafarers shared with the Life at Sea 2022 competition.
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Note to editors
The ITF Seafarers Trust is a UK charity established in 1981, which funds programmes that advance the wellbeing of maritime workers, seafarers and their families. We are funded by the Trust’s own capital funds, and by the investment income of the Welfare Fund at the International Transport Workers Federation, a global federation of transport workers’ unions representing nearly 20 million members.
More information available here: https://www.seafarerstrust.org/what-we-do/photo-competition-2022
For more on the Crew Connect conference: https://informaconnect.com/crew-connect-global/