NHS-UK’s Photography Competition is always hugely popular, with hundreds of entries each year from Britain and around the world. Our 2024 theme was 'True Colours', and it attracted nearly 500 entries featuring a wide range of historic vessels and the people who engage with them.
There are four Award categories:
- Photographer of the Year - awarded to the photographer and image selected by the judges as the Overall Winner of the competition. A Highly Commended prize is also awarded.
- Classic Boat Award - chosen by Classic Boat and awarded to the image most closely fitting the ethos of the magazine. A Highly Commended prize is also awarded.
- Newcomer of the Year
- People's Choice Award - the only award voted for by the public.
WINNER: Photographer of the Year 2024
Painting Trafalgar, by Peter Collins
Peter’s photograph was taken at Boathouse 4 within Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, where he works as a boatbuilder. It shows fellow boatbuilder Betzy carrying out the final repair work on Trafalgar, a 32 ft Cornish Gig belonging to the Royal Navy racing team. The photo was taken during normal day-to-day operations at Boathouse 4 and was not posed.
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Photographer of the Year 2024
Old and New: Waverley at Canary Wharf, by Mark Dillen
Mark's striking image is of the 1946 National Historic Fleet paddle steamer Waverley. To get the picture he had to plan ahead using her time passing through Tower Bridge as a guide to what time she would pass Canary Wharf. He then kept an eye on the weather hoping that it wasn’t raining or too windy to fly. As soon as she rounded Greenwich peninsula he took off and waited for Waverley to come to him. He then matched the speed of his drone to the ship, shooting at 1/4sec shutter speed.
WINNER: Classic Boat Award
A sinking feeling, by Chrissie Westgate
Chrissie's image was taken when she was heading out alongside the competitors to photograph the annual Mersea Island Oyster Dredging Match in September 2023. The two vessels featured are the 1912 Shuttlewood Smack Mayfly and the 1899 Oyster Smack Dorothy. Chrissie says: "It was a beautiful Blackwater morning, and the sea was like silk. I loved the juxtaposition of the historic fishing smacks as they cautiously passed the visible remains of the sunken vessel that still had such enigmatic beauty".
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Classic Boat Award
Pudge, by Shaun Mills
Shaun's evocative image is of the Spritsail Barge Pudge, which was built in 1922 by the London & Rochester Trading Co. for the oil seed trade. The photo was taken using a DJI Mini Pro 3 drone ahead of the 2023 Colne Barge Match. The majority of the Thames Barges and Smacks moor off East Mersea overnight in preparation for an early start the following day. On this occasion Shaun was greeted with a light mist, perfectly calm sea and a wonderful golden sunrise.
WINNER: Newcomer of the Year
A White World, by Amy Lawson
Amy’s image shows the tall ship SV Noorderlicht, a two-masted schooner built in 1910 as a light sailing vessel for the Imperial German Navy. Now a charter vessel, the ship has spent much of her life sailing the Baltic Sea and exploring Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Amy says: “I was able to capture this image in the far-off lands of Svalbard, where the tall ship I was currently on was always in bright contrast with its natural white, blue or black environment”.
WINNER: People's Choice Award
True LMS Locomotive Colours, by Julie Fletcher
Julie was walking her dogs along the Caldon Canal in Staffordshire when she spotted the narrowboat Delhi, passing under the Consall Forge railway bridge just as a train steamed over. Later, she met the owners of Delhi, who told her more about the vessel’s history. Built in 1930 for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company, Delhi is today painted in LMS 1930s livery. Amazingly, the carriages pulled that day also had the same livery as Delhi.
