The deadline for entries to TradeWinds' Maritime Photographer of the Year contest is noon GMT today so if you are intending to enter this is your last chance.

Entries are continuing to pour in and we will be announcing the short list of entries for readers to vote on early this afternoon.

A dramatic nightime photo of the grounded bulk carrier Full City floodlit by its own deck lights and a further picture of a helicopter rescue underway from the same vessel is sent by R Jacobsen of the Norse Maritime liner consultancy. A Nikon D3 and Canon Ixus 800 IS were used respectively.

A bunker spill from the 29,000-dwt Full City (built 1995) caused widespread pollution in the summer with the master and third officer facing a potential jail sentence for breaching pollution laws.

A selection of the photos so far entered can be seen on this page.

Jostein Fidje a DNV surveyor based at the Cosco Nantong Shipyard sends an atmospheric picture of a multipurpose vessel laden with containers on a chilly day on the Yangtze River. “The rainy fog penetrated everything,” he adds.



He also captured an image of a colourful bird perched on steelwork during inclining experiments. The vessel that proved a convenient perch may be the 147,000-dwt bulk carrier Road Runner (built 1993).

Fidje also sends an image of women fishing from a small boat that has seen better days. They are not hoping to catch lunch but have lines baited with magnets and looking for scrap steel to sell, Fidje explains. The photos were all taken with a Canon Ixus 90 IS



A portfolio of images mostly taken at Port Said has been sent by Joish Paul, Singapore based manager of Leth Suez Transit. They include a vessel at the end of a rainbow, seagulls escorting an aircraft carrier and the 10,000-dwt heavy lift Beluga Recommendation (built 2005) with a deck cargo of two large cranes.

There are also sunset scenes from Port Said and Singapore as well as a baby flying through the air near the entrance to the Suez Canal. All were taken with a Nikon D60.



Christina Chiritescu of Dobson Fleet Management in Limassol sends a striking image of what appears to be a small passenger ferry against a dramatic “red sky at night” sunset. The photo was taken with a Canon PowerShot SX110 IS.



The previous TradeWinds’ Maritime Photographer of the Year contests in 2007 and 2008 attracted many hundreds of entries and it looks as if 2009 will be just the same.



Click here to view last year's shortlisted entries

or here to view 2007's shortlisted entries.

We will publish a selection of the best photographs in future editions of the TradeWinds paper and on the www.tradewinds.no website. The winning entry will be selected from a short list by a readers' vote.

The Nikon D90 comes with a 18-105mm zoom lens with the winner also awarded the TradeWinds Maritime Photographer of the Year trophy.

Send your entries to competition@tradewinds.no or either of the postal addresses given below.

Competition rules

  • This is a maritime photography competition so only images relating to the merchant shipping industry are eligible. Images submitted may reflect shipboard life, show vessels or parts of vessels, illustrate maritime operations, news events or otherwise have a clear relationship to our industry while demonstrating the creative and/or technical skills of the photographer.
  • Photographs can be entered as digital images, prints or transparencies and be colour or monochrome. Up to 10 images may be submitted by each contestant.
  • Digital images should be submitted as jpg files of at least 1MB, print entries should be of a minimum size of 125mm x 175mm, while transparencies should be 35mm format or larger. Good quality scans of prints or transparencies are also acceptable.
  • Images should be the original work of the contestant and taken since 1 January 2008. Images should be without embedded text or date stamps. All entries should be accompanied by a caption showing where and when the photograph was taken, the name of the ship if relevant, the camera used and the name of the photographer.
  • Images should not have been digitally created or edited but use of filters, time exposures and other traditional photographic techniques is acceptable.
  • A contestant's occupation should be in the shipping or related maritime industries. Those eligible include seafarers, shipowners, shipmanagers, shipbrokers, marine surveyors and inspectors, classification and marine administration officials, port employees, search and rescue and coastguard officers, ship finance, marine insurance and shipping law professionals, as well as students on a course leading to a shipping industry career. The competition is not open to ship enthusiasts, professional photographers or naval personnel, other than those involved in merchant search and rescue or other services relating to merchant shipping. Employees of TradeWinds and related companies are also not eligible.
  • The winning contestant will receive a Nikon D90 digital SLR or equivalent camera and the TradeWinds Maritime Photographer of the Year trophy. The winning image and the name of the successful contestant will be published by TradeWinds soon after the closing date.
  • Copyright remains with the photographer but TradeWinds may publish submitted images in the course of this or future photographic competitions.
  • TradeWinds reserves the right to crop images for the purposes of publication.
  • Digital images should be e-mailed to competition@tradewinds.no with the attached images clearly captioned along with details of the contestant. Prints or slides can be mailed to TradeWinds Photo Competition, Christian Krohgs gate 16, PO Box 1182 Sentrum, N-0107 Oslo, Norway, or TradeWinds Photo Competition, International Press Centre, 76 Shoe Lane, London EC4A 3JB, England.
  • The closing date for entries for the competition is noon GMT on Wednesday 2 December. A short list of the best entries will be selected by the editor of TradeWinds with the final winner chosen through a readers' vote. Voting closes noon GMT Wednesday 16 December with the winner to be announced shortly afterwards.
  • In all matters relating to this competition, the decision of the editor of TradeWinds is final. TradeWinds will do its best to return submitted images if requested but is under no obligation for any lost or damaged.

About the prize:



The feature packed 12.3 megapixel Nikon D90 digital SLR comes with an 18mm-105mm zoom lens and should help the winner take even better photographs.

The successful contestant may, however, choose another digital or film camera or item of photographic equipment of equivalent value.(Copyright)