Arctic sailor wins £2,500 award for climate change story

An Arctic sailor from Norway has won £2,500 for his account of climate change on the island of Svalbard. Jon Amtrup’s article, The icy sound of climate change, was the judges’ first choice in Yachting Monthly’s Brian Black Memorial Award 2022, which seeks to promote and encourage adventurous sailors to explore environmental issues and to document them in writing and photos.  

Glaciers on the Arctic island of Svalbard have retreated more than a kilometre in 12 years, a rate of more than 100m a year. Norwegian sailor Jon Amtrup has witnessed the changes first-hand, having sailed to Svalbard regularly over more than a decade.

Amtrup’s account demonstrates a deep love for this landscape, but puts it in stark contrast with the global effects of climate change, as well as the local effects of mass tourism, oil exploration and other threats to the environment. 

Amtrup was awarded a prize of £2,500, thanks to the sponsorship of the award by marine electronics company B&G, and a trophy of a barometer and clock mounted on hand-crafted elm wood by Les Silkowski. The award also included a donation of £1,500 to UK-based marine conservation charity Sea-Changers.

The judges, including British sailors Dee Caffari and Mike Golding, say they chose Amtrup’s as the winning article because of its clear communication of the biggest environmental challenge of our time, seen through the lens of one small island group. “The writing was beautiful, brought to life by the stunning photographs of crewmember James Austrums,” they add. 

Amtrup says: “I am truly honoured to receive the Brian Black Memorial Award. The severe threat that climate change poses to the ocean is something I have focused on for a long time. The climate in the Arctic is changing way faster than the rest of the world. Winning the award encourages me to keep going with my work documenting this area, and the money will go towards Gate to the Arctic to help educate young people about how they can make a difference.”

Read Amtrup’s full article in Yachting Monthly.

Runner-up prizes were awarded to Niklas Sandström for his article The beautiful Baltic, about the impact of pollution in the Baltic, and to Tobias Carter for The Arctic is changing colour about his scientific expedition from France to Greenland.

“Each of this year’s 18 high-quality entries describes visible issues around the world from our oceans in places on the forefront of climate change, but that most of us will never get to see,” says judge Mike Golding. “Jon Amtrups’ winning piece eloquently captured his observations of the receding ‘permanent’ ice front in the North – while at the same time highlighting the complex contradiction of the visitors who travel to witness the same – inevitably at yet further cost to the planet.”

Sea-Changers trustee Tanya Ferry adds: “The Brain Black Memorial Award’s focus on communicating environmental issues is closely aligned with Sea-Changers’ core value of giving back to the sea. Sharing first-hand witness of environmental damage brings the challenge faced by our oceans into sharp focus and highlights the issues addressed by our grant funding which delivers practical action on the ground in the UK.

“This donation from the Brian Black Memorial Fund will allow us to keep delivering projects. It is crucial that we continue to build partnerships with marine businesses and other organisations to enable the distribution of  funds to grassroots projects making a real difference around the UK coastline.”