News: Second Maritime UK Awards to be livestreamed from Plymouth

Maritime UK has announced that the 2020 Maritime UK Awards will be hosted as a live-streamed event from Plymouth on 12 November. The industry’s national awards will be broadcast from ‘Britain’s Ocean City’ and be viewable by people from across the country and overseas. 

The decision to move to a live stream format has been taken to respond to recent changes in government restrictions and social distancing guidelines. 

The Maritime UK Awards, first hosted in Southampton in 2019, are the UK’s national maritime awards, organised by industry, for industry. They celebrate the achievements of businesses and organisations throughout the maritime sector, as well as the vital efforts of maritime key workers throughout COVID-19. 95% of UK exports and imports are transported by sea, and the sector has played a vital role in keeping trade flowing and the country supplied with goods such as food and medicines. The UK’s maritime sector contributes £46.1bn to the economy every year and supports 1.1 million jobs.

Aiming to shine a spotlight on each of the UK’s coastal economies, the awards evenings are held in a different maritime region of the UK every year. In addition to being livestreamed from Plymouth, an additional winners’ event will be hosted in the city when possible. Organisers are confident that in a live-streamed format, the awards will reach a wider audience than ever before.

The inaugural winners of the Department for Transport’s Clean Maritime Award will be announced as part of the event, celebrating the sector’s achievements in moving to a net-zero maritime economy. 

The submission of entries for this year’s 14 categories closed at the beginning of September, and an industry-renowned panel of judges are finishing their assessment of the applications. The three finalists for each category will be announced in October. 

The 2020 Maritime UK Awards are sponsored by Diamond Sponsors MLA College and the University of Plymouth, as well as Category Sponsors Bachmann Group, UK Ship Register, the Department for Transport, Thales, Nautilus International, UKNEST and Chevron.

Ben Murray, Director of Maritime UK, said:

“We were determined that these awards would go ahead, and in an ideal world would have been one of the first occasions at which colleagues from across the sector could come back together following COVID-19. With that not being possible due to new restrictions, we think it’s really important to celebrate the remarkable work that has been going on – in responding to COVID-19, and in spite of it – which sends a message of resilience and ambition that are hardwired into the DNA of our maritime sector. Being livestreamed means that we will be able to celebrate with many more colleagues and showcase the genuinely world-leading activity our sector has to offer.” 

The event is now open for registration, here.