Maritime specialist PR firm Polaris Media has been appointed by the Maritime Foundation to promote the Maritime Media Awards (MMAs) in London.
Polaris has been charged with helping raise the national and international profile of the MMAs which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary having been established in 1995 in memory of Desmond Wettern, the former Daily Telegraph naval correspondent. The event celebrates the very best in writing and film covering the maritime industry and has been strongly supported by successive First Sea Lords as well as Countess Mountbatten of Burma and HRH Princess Anne.
Polaris director Sam Pinnington said Polaris is honoured to support the Maritime Foundation which exists to raise awareness of the UK’s dependence on the sea.
“Polaris is one of the few maritime specialist PR firms in the world and it is a true privilege to promote the MMAs and work with the Maritime Foundation,” he said. “Our journalism background combined with our knowledge of, and contacts in, the global maritime media will enable us to raise the profile of MMAs to an international audience. The calibre of the shortlist, and previous winners, speaks for itself and there are many books and films which deserve the recognition that the awards will create. The Maritime Foundation undertakes vital work to promote greater awareness of the sea which is often under appreciated and under reported.”
Notable past winners at the MMAs include the maritime journalist Michael Grey in 1998, Captain Richard Woodman was honoured in 2011 for his landmark series of books charting A History of the British Merchant Navy. Other winners include Professor Nicholas Rogers for his authoritative book The Command of the Ocean, Professor Callum Roberts for the Sea of Life. More recently Dan Snow was commended for his outstanding television series Empire of the Seas and Rose George for her illuminating book Deep Sea and Foreign Going.
Last year saw the introduction of a brand new category – the First Sea Lord’s Digital Media Award which was won by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance for its outstanding website. The Maritime Media Awards Judging Committee includes a panel of 17 eminent maritime personalities.
Places are still available for the 2015 Maritime Media Awards and dinner reservation forms can be found via the following web address: http://www.bmcf.org.uk/awards/forms/ or by contacting event organiser Sophie Brown via email sophie.brown@bmcf.org.uk
Notes for editors
Maritime Media Awards 2015
Mountbatten Maritime Award for best literary contribution shortlist:
- Patrick Barkham – Coastlines: The Story of Our Shore (Granta Books)
- Eric Kentley – Cutty Sark: The Last of the Tea Clippers (Conway Publishing)
- Michael Pye – The Edge of the World: How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are (Penguin Books)
- Alastair Couper, Hance D. Smith and Bruno Ciceri – Fishers and Plunderers: Theft, Slavery and Violence at Sea (Pluto Press)
- Charles W. Johnson – Ice Ship: The Epic Voyages of the Polar Adventurer Fram (Oxbow Books)
- Tad Fitch and Michael Poirier – Into the Danger Zone: Sea Crossings of the First World War (The History Press)
- Brian Lavery – Nelson’s Victory: 250 Years of War and Peace (Seaforth Publishing)
- Barry Gough – Pax Britannica: Ruling the Waves and Keeping the Peace before Armageddon (Palgrave Macmillan)
- Stewart Gordon – A History of the World in Sixteen Shipwrecks (Oxbow Books)
- John Johnson-Allen – T E Lawrence and the Red Sea Patrol: The Royal Navy’s Role in Creating the Legend (Pen and Sword Books)
Additional award categories:
- Desmond Wettern Media Award – for best journalistic contribution.
- Donald Gosling Award – for best television and film contribution.
- The First Sea Lord’s Digital Media Award – for the team or person who has made the most constructive contribution to generating awareness of current maritime issues specifically produced and uploaded through digital media outlets.
- Maritime Fellowship Award – to honour an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to stimulating public engagement in maritime issues.
- Desmond Wettern Fleet Award – handed to the HM ship, submarine, Naval Air Squadron or Royal Marine Unit that is judged to have made the best contribution to a positive image of the Royal Navy
The Maritime Foundation
- The Maritime Foundation is a charity promoting Britain’s interests across the entire maritime sector. Its purpose is to inform and raise public and parliamentary awareness of the importance of Britain’s maritime industries, commerce and defence through education, training and research, as well as through the Foundation’s annual Maritime Media Awards.
- The Maritime Media Awards were established in 1995, in memory of Desmond Wettern, former naval correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. The Desmond Wettern Media Award was initiated to give recognition to those journalists who do most to create public awareness of maritime matters. The Awards have since grown into a national event