Clean Coasts Photography Competition 2017

Ireland has some of the most spectacular and diverse coastline in the world. Now in its eighth 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.

Martina Gardiner, Flying Horses, Omey Island, Connemara, Co Galway P+C LYC 2017 — Martina Gardiner, Flying Horses, Omey Island, Connemara, Co Galway, People and the Coast, Love Your Coast 2017, Clean Coasts Programme

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, Brenda Fitzsimmons – Irish Times, 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.

Clodagh Blake, Grace of the dolphins, Youghal, Co Cork, - W+C LYC 2017 — Tom Ormond, Skelligs Surfer, St Finians Bay, Co Kerry, Peopl and the Coast, Love Your Coasts Competition 2017, Clean Coasts Programme

Gino Perfetti topped the podium on the night bagging the ‘Photograph of the Year 2017’ Award for his image ‘Withstanding the Storm’.

Gino Perfetti, Withstanding the Storm, Blackrock, Co Dublin - CH Love Your Coast 2017 — Gino Perfetti, Withstanding the Storm, Blackrock, Co Dublin, Coastal Heritage, Love Your Coast Competition 2017, Clean Coasts Programme

Sinead McCoy, Coastal Communities Manager, 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 the Clean Coasts Facebook page.

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