Brian Black was an adventurer and a journalist, and he was passionate about showing and telling people about the natural world. He sailed all his life, and his children went sailing with him, exploring coastlines, beaches and rockpools. He taught them about the animals, birds, plants and everything that grows in or near the sea.

He went on some big sailing adventures on his little boat to places like the Arctic, where he saw polar bears, icebergs and whales. He also saw ice melting and the natural world changing as a result of climate change, so he made films, took photos and wrote articles about them, to share what was happening with people on land.

Now his granddaughter Penny Black (13) also sails and like many of you, she cares about our seas and coasts and wants you to have a go at sharing what you see too. Penny will be one of the competition judges.

The competition

Are you going to the sea this summer? The theme for the 2025 Brian Black Memorial Award is ‘Our Changing Seas’, so if you spot something at or near the sea that is surprising, beautiful, or different to what you’d expect, take your best photo of it.

Then share it with us and tell us about what the photo shows, why it is important, and how and where you took the photo. It could be a photo of a landscape, an animal or bird, man-made objects at the sea, the weather, or something else. We are looking for one photo per person and up 300 words of writing.

Click here for full T&Cs + how to enter

Penny Black

Judges

The judges include the editorial teams at The Week Junior (associate editor Laura Gelder) and Yachting Monthly (editor Theo Stocker and deputy editor Heather Prentice), as well as Brian Black’s daughter Sarah Brown (herself an environmentalist) and his granddaughter Penny Black. We will also be joined by sailors Mike Golding and Dee Caffari, and conservation expert Dr Bob Brown.

Prizes

The winning entry will win a camera starter kit from Canon, and have their entry published in Yachting Monthly magazine, on www.yachtingmonthly.com and in The Week Junior. Three runners up will also have their entries published in Yachting Monthly.

The winner will be given two tickets (one for them and one for a parent or caregiver) to the Southampton International Boat Show on Friday 19 September.

Winners will be informed by Tuesday 9 September by the email address they have provided, and will be publicly announced at the prizegiving at the Southampton Boat Show on Friday 19 September 2025.

How to enter

You can enter the competition by submitting your entry at: www.yachtingmonthly.com/bbmajunior2025

Please ask an adult to complete the form for you, where they will be able to upload your words and photo.

Entry criteria

• The photo must have been taken by you and belong to you, and the writing must be your own work.Entrants can submit one photo and story per person only
• Entrants must be aged 14 or under on the 31 August 2025.
• The photo should be submitted as a JPEG file with your name in the file name.
• Please ensure it is a high resolution original photo and not a compressed or reduced file.
• The image must not have been materially edited or changed in any way, although standard processing (such as adjusting exposure) is allowed. AI generated images are not allowed.
• Entrants must be resident in the UK and Northern Ireland only.
• The competition is open from 00:01 on Monday 21 July 2025 and closes at 23:59 on Sunday 31 August 2025. A winner and runners up will be chosen by Monday 8 September

Terms and conditions

By taking part in any competition, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions, the competition rules at www.yachtingmonthly.com/terms and collection of personal data in accordance with Future’s privacy policy at: https://www.futureplc.com/privacy-policy/.

Any personal details collected will only be used to send the prize and not for any marketing purposes.

Read more about the Brian Black Memorial Award