Clean Coasts’ Love Your Coast
Photography Awards 2017
Clean Coasts’ Love Your Coast Photography Awards were held on 31st October in Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin 2. Micheal John O’Mahony, Director of the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce, presented the prizes to the winning photographers.
Ireland has some of the most spectacular and diverse coastline in the world. Now in its eight year, Clean Coasts’ Love Your Coast Photography Competition is all about capturing the essence of the Irish coast – its extensive beauty and diverse character. Clean Coasts works with communities on the ground to help foster pride in our coastline and we look forward to seeing this reflected in the entries.
Clean Coasts launched the Love Your Coast Photography Competition in May during Coca-Cola Clean Coasts Week and with a prize fund of €5,000 it attracted huge interest from Ireland’s amateur photographers. There are five categories in the competition; Coastal Heritage, Coastal Landscape, People & the Coast, Wildlife & the Coast and Underwater.
The difficult task of judging this year’s competition was undertaken by Ken O’Sullivan – Documentary Filmmaker, Naoise Culhane – Professional Photographer, Keith O’Hara – InstaIreland, Micheal John O’Mahony – Director, Environmental Education Unit, An Taisce, Philip O’Donovan – Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and Eoin McDonnell – Failte Ireland.
Clean Coasts would like to wish huge congratulations to Gino Perfetti for taking home ‘Photograph of the Year 2017’ Award for his image ‘Withstanding the Storm’.
Sinead McCoy, Coastal Communities Manger, spoke of the awards, “The images submitted to the Love Your Coast Awards this year was of an extremely high standard and illustrating the vast character of our coastline from Fanad in Donegal to the Skelligs in Kerry, from dolphins to surfers and from families enjoying a day out at the beach to dramatic seascapes, these photographs truly captured the essence of the Irish Coastline.”
A gallery of the winning photographs can be found on www.cleancoasts.org or on Facebook/CleanCoasts.
Clean Coasts is operated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce and is supported by the Department of the Housing, Planning and Local Government, and Fáilte Ireland.
If you require images in high resolution or any other information, please contact Sinead McCoy
smccoy@eeu.antaisce.org // cleancoasts@eeu.antaisce.org
0871347950
WINNERS 2017
| People & The Coast | |||
| Name | Title | Location | |
| 1 | Tom Ormond | Skelligs Surfer | St. Finians Bay, Co. Kerry |
| 2 | Bren Whelan | Guardians of the Coast | Lough Foyle, Co. Donegal |
| 3 | Martina Gardiner | Flying Horses | Omey Island, Connemara, Co. Galway |
| Wildlife and the Coast | |||
| 1 | Clodagh Blake | Grace of the Dolphins | Youghal, Co. Cork |
| 2 | Michael Linehan | Gull with Ragworm | Broadmeadow Estuary, Malahide, Co. Dublin |
| 3 | Christopher Howes | Bath Time | Wicklow Head, Co. Wicklow |
| Coastal Landscape | |||
| 1 | Piotr Machowczyk | Co. Clare Beauty | Killkee, Co. Clare |
| 2 | Jaro Fagan | Moonlight at Clogher Head | Dingle, Co. Kerry |
| 3 | Michael Gavin | Sunset at Saddle Head | Achill Island, Co. Mayo |
| Coastal Heritage | |||
| 1 | Gino Perfetti | Withstanding the Storm | Blackrock, Co. Dublin |
| 2 | Paul Lynch | Rockabill Storm | Drumanagh, Loughshinny, Co. Dublin |
| 3 | John Hall | Fanad Wave | Fanad Lighthouse, Co. Donegal |
| Underwater | |||
| 1 | Alan Cranston | Basking Shark Feeding | Culldaff, Co. Donegal |
| 2 | Nigel Motyer | Floating Seal | Dalkey Island, Co. Dublin |
| 3 | Derek Bolton | Pelagia Noctiluca | Skellig Islands, Co. Kerry |
ENDS/////
Clean Coasts
Clean Coasts Ireland is owned and operated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce – the National Trust for Ireland. It is funded by the Department of the Environment, Community & Local Government, Coca-Cola and Fáilte Ireland. It has been operating in Ireland for 14 years and engages 600 Clean Coasts groups and thousands of beach users. The Green Coast award is also part of the Clean Coasts programme and is an award for beaches that have excellent water quality but may not have the necessary built infrastructure to be eligible for the Blue Flag award. www.cleancoasts.org
The Judging Panel:
Ken O’Sullivan, Documentary Filmmaker
Ken O’Sullivan has been a natural history filmmaker, cameraman and ocean conservationist for over twelve years. He has produced, directed and shot natural history series for RTÉ & TG4 and worked as freelance cameraman/director for BBC NHU, CBC Canada, ITV and many TV commercials and docudrama projects. Ken is a passionate marine conservationist and leads conservation projects on sharks, skates and rays in Ireland and continues to be at the forefront of cetacean (whale & dolphin) research in Ireland, working closely with Irish academic institutions, the Marine Institute and various conservation organisations.
Brenda Fitzsimons, Irish Times
Brenda Fitzsimons is a staff photographer and deputy picture editor with The Irish Times. Brenda has won numerous awards including the prestigious AIB/PPAI Photojournalist of the Year Award and the A.T.Cross Photographer of the Year. Her work has brought her on many assignments around the world including Afghanistan, Libya, Bangladesh, Malawi and the earthquake in Haiti where her work was exhibited in the Gallery of Photography. She has worked in Sierra Leone where she contributed to the 1000Days project with Concern. Brenda instigated the book ‘Caught On Camera’ a project where schoolchildren documented their lives in the Dublin Docklands. The publication won the Business to Arts Award.
Naoise Culhane, Professional Photographer
Naoise is a commercial photographer based in Dublin, working in the areas of Press, Public Relations, Corporate and Lifestyle photography.He has built a reputation for quality, style and delivery and works closely with clients to create unique images for national campaigns across all mediums.
Micheal John O’Mahoney, Director of Environmental Education Unit, An Taisce
In his role as Director of the Environmental Education Unit Micheal John O’Mahony oversees the delivery and development of Environmental Education Unit programmes such as Blue Flag, Green-Schools, Clean Coasts, Greening Communities, Neat Streets, Green Home, National Spring Clean, Green Communities and Green Campus. Alongside this, he is a keen wildlife photographer.
Keith O’Hara, InstaIreland
Keith is passionate about the moment of magic when a real-life travel experience collides with the power of the internet. In 2014, he set up instaireland.ie, a little slice of Ireland online that aims to guide people on an Irish road trip that gives birth to a lifetime of memories.
Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority is a proud sponsor of the Clean Coasts programme for the past 10 years. The Green Coast Awards and associated Clean Coasts groups act as custodians for the beaches, seas, and marine life in Ireland, ensuring that they are managed appropriately and that they are litter and pollution free for our visitors to enjoy. Local communities are at the heart of Irish tourism and the Clean Coasts groups provide a model for how communities can take a lead in protecting our core tourism assets.
Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government
As part of its commitments under the EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive and OSPAR’s Marine Litter Action Plan, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is proud to support An Taisce’s ‘Clean Coasts Programme’, in its enthusiastic engagement with marine communities in relation to marine litter and in heightening public awareness and influencing positive behaviour among civil society. The Department would also like to acknowledge the tremendous work done by hundreds of local clean coast groups around the coast in protecting the marine environment, for the generations to come.