Now in their 11th year, the Ocean Awards 2026 are held in partnership with Nekton and in association with Kensington Yachts and recognise those who are committed to solving the ocean crisis. Meet the judges of the 2026 awards...
Co-chairs
Sacha Bonsor: Co-chair, Ocean Awards; editor-at-large, BOAT International
Oliver Steeds OBE: Co-chair, Ocean Awards; chief executive and founder, Nekton
The judges
Steve Backshall: Explorer, writer and presenter
Peter Teye Busumprah: Oceanographer, environmental advocate and founder of Ocean Rock Base
Sofia Blount: Marine health advocate and Blue Marine Foundation ambassador
Charles Clover: Co-founder, Blue Marine Foundation
Madelaine L. Emberson: Director of social impact, Navigatr Group
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: Writer, broadcaster and campaigner
Aino-Leena Grapin: CEO, Winch Design
Nina Jensen: CEO, REV Ocean
Frederikke Magnussen: Co-founder, A Plastic Planet
Dr Nadjim Ahmed Mohamed: University of Comoros, Faculty of Science and Technology
Professor Callum Roberts: University of Exeter
Lucy Woodall: Principal scientist, Nekton
Sacha Bonsor: Co-chair, Ocean Awards; editor-at-large, BOAT International
Sacha Bonsor is the editorial director of BOAT International and a former editor at Harper’s Bazaar, The Times and the Daily Mail. Ocean conservation is one of the main pillars at the heart of BOAT's storytelling because, she says, “saving the sea is one of, if not the most, important issues facing humanity today, and it is also the thing that our audience cares about above all else".
Oliver Steeds OBE: Co-chair, Ocean Awards; chief executive and founder, Nekton
Oliver Steeds OBE is the chief executive and founder of Nekton, and director of ocean census, leading the management and development of the organisation and field operations. Formerly, he was a critically acclaimed broadcast journalist with ABC, NBC, Channel 4 and Discovery Channels, among others. He is the co-founder of Encounter EDU, including the Ocean’s Academy.
Steve Backshall: Explorer, writer and presenter
Steve Backshall has been passionate about the wild world ever since he could crawl. After graduating from Exeter University with a degree in English and Theatre Studies, he wrote for the Indonesian Rough Guides and during his travels became conversant in the local language, drank blood with uncontacted tribes, came nose to nose with Komodo Dragons and attempted to walk solo across Irian Jaya.
Armed with an idea for a television series, Backshall headed out to Colombia, and National Geographic Channel International brought him on as 'Adventurer in Residence’, producing, filming and presenting adventure and natural history programmes. He has circumnavigated the globe time and again, venturing into the Sinai desert, completing the Israeli paratroopers selection course, catching anacondas, vipers and cobras and making “The Ten Great Dives of the World”, for the long-running series Earthpulse.
Peter Teye Busumprah: Oceanographer, environmental advocate and founder of Ocean Rock Base
Peter Teye Busumprah is an oceanographer and environmental advocate. Having studied fisheries science at the University of Ghana, he founded Ocean Rock Base in 2024, an innovation-driven, knowledge-based environmental NGO whose mission is to “change humanity’s relationship with the ocean”.
Sofia Blount: Marine health advocate and Blue Marine Foundation ambassador
An accomplished sustainability and environmental governance professional, Sofia Blount brings over a decade of leadership at the intersection of marine conservation, law and policy.
As co-founder and director of the boutique international law firm Omnia Strategy LLP, she led complex international initiatives on biodiversity protection and legal reform. She later served for more than seven years as a trustee of Blue Marine Foundation, helping guide its evolution from an early-stage charity into a leading international NGO. In this role, she contributed to strategic direction, strengthened governance and supported executive leadership during a period of significant growth and global impact.
Blount currently serves as strategic and policy advisor to the Coral Research & Development Accelerator Platform (CORDAP), a G20-backed initiative, advising on strategy, communications and policy to accelerate coral conservation and restoration worldwide.
She graduated with distinction from the University of Cambridge’s Master’s in Sustainability Leadership programme, where her research on protecting blue carbon ecosystems was commended, and she has published on sustainability in The Sunday Times.
Charles Clover: Co-founder, Blue Marine Foundation
Charles Clover is the co-founder and executive director of Blue Marine Foundation, which is dedicated to creating marine reserves and establishing sustainable models of fishing. Clover made his name as an author and environmental journalist and was the environment editor of The Daily Telegraph for 22 years and a columnist for The Sunday Times. In 2004, Clover published his book, The End of the Line, which went on to be the basis for an award-winning documentary film of the same name that raised the issue of overfishing as a global problem.
Madelaine L. Emberson: Director of social impact, Navigatr Group
Madelaine L. Emberson is the head of social impact at Navigatr Group, a $3.5 billion North American travel organisation and parent company of Kensington Yachts. In her role, she leads all elements of CSR, including charitable partnerships, impact reporting, stakeholder engagement and fundraising. Her initiatives aim to integrate social responsibility and sustainability into the organisation’s culture and operations to create a greater collective impact, with an emphasis on encouraging travellers to give back to the communities they visit. Her work has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support organisations tackling poverty alleviation, and environmental exploration and conservation. She holds a graduate diploma in social responsibility and sustainability from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Commerce in entrepreneurial management.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: Writer, broadcaster and campaigner
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a multi-award-winning writer and broadcaster known for his uncompromising commitment to seasonal, ethically produced food and his concern for the environment. He has earned a huge following through his River Cottage TV series and books, as well as campaigns such as Hugh’s Fish Fight, Hugh’s War on Waste, Britain’s Fat Fight and, his latest, War on Plastic with Hugh and Anita. Fearnley-Whittingstall established River Cottage HQ in Dorset in 2004, and the operation is now based at Park Farm near Axminster in Devon.
His broadcasting has earned him a BAFTA as well as awards from Radio 4, The Observer and the Guild of Food Writers. Besides more than 20 cookery-based series, his TV work includes hard-hitting campaigns such as the highly influential Fish Fight, which brought about changes in fisheries law at the European level.
Aino-Leena Grapin: CEO, Winch Design
Winch Design is a multi-disciplinary design studio that creates visionary projects around the world on land, in the air and at sea. Grapin joined Winch Design in 2016 as CEO, sitting on the Operating Board. She leads the company and ensures Winch Design is as strong commercially as it is creatively. In 2021, Aino led the company through a new phase to become employee-owned.
Grapin is a key campaigner within the industry to drive sustainability: she sits on the Sustainable Yacht Design Task Force for Water Revolution Foundation, which shares innovative and verified solutions to reduce the industry’s footprint. She spearheaded Winch Design’s accreditation to the Plant Mark, now in its seventh year, with the commitment to reduce the company’s carbon emissions by a minimum of five per cent year on year.
Nina Jensen: CEO, REV Ocean
Nina Jensen is the CEO of REV Ocean and is a tireless champion for promoting environmentally responsible solutions for the world's oceans. She started this position in 2018 after 15 years of positive impact in WWF-Norway (as Secretary-General since 2012). Jensen holds a master’s degree in marine biology from the University of Fishery Science in Tromsø, and has a background in communications and marketing from Ogilvy&Mather. Jensen is a board member of The Business for Peace Foundation, HUB Ocean, The Brain Tumour Association, Ocean Wise, Project Energy Reimagined, The Polytechnic Society (Polyteknisk forening) and KR Foundation. She was named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2014 and she is also on the Council for the Centre for the Ocean and Arctic, a member of the steering committee for Friends of Ocean Action and an advisor to the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.
Frederikke Magnussen: Co-founder, A Plastic Planet
Frederikke Magnussen is co-founder of A Plastic Planet, which aims to inspire the world to “turn off the plastic tap”. The social impact movement, founded in 2017 with Sian Sutherland, aims to represent the public’s right to a plastic-free choice by working collaboratively with retailers, governments and the United Nations. As part of their work, they have created two Plastic Free Marks: The Plastic Free Trust Mark, for products and packaging; and the Commitment Mark for business, demonstrating their intention to reduce plastic. Aside from her work with A Plastic Planet, Magnussen and her husband have also set up Ocean Family Foundation (OFF).
Dr. Ahmed Mohamed Nadjim: University of Comoros, Faculty of Science and Technology
Dr. Ahmed Mohamed Nadjim is a marine biologist and ecologist who has served as a lecturer-researcher in the Faculty of Sciences and Techniques at the University of the Comoros since 2017. He founded and directs the Laboratory of Marine and Coastal Sciences, where his research focuses on benthic communities and ecosystem dynamics. Together with his team, he investigates the interactions and evolution of marine and coastal ecosystems and their biodiversity, with a particular emphasis on plastic pollution in Comorian waters and coastlines.
Dr. Nadjim has contributed to several major international scientific expeditions, including the Second International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE-2) in 2018, the Indian Ocean Plastic Expedition Project (ExPLOI) oceanographic campaign in 2025 and, most recently, the Nekton First Descent: Comoros Expedition in late 2025.
Professor Callum Roberts: University of Exeter
Professor Callum Roberts is a distinguished marine conservation biologist, oceanographer and research scholar at the University of Exeter, renowned for his work on marine reserves and the environmental impacts of commercial fishing. His research journey began with reef studies in the Red Sea before expanding to the Maldives and the Great Barrier Reef.
Beyond academia, Roberts serves as chief scientific advisor to Blue Marine Foundation and holds ambassador roles with the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. His expertise has shaped public discourse through regular opinion pieces in The Guardian since 2011, addressing critical issues such as overfishing and marine ecosystem degradation.
Roberts has brought marine conservation to mainstream audiences through his involvement in acclaimed documentaries, including The End of the Line (2009) and Seaspiracy (2021), and served as chief scientific adviser for the BBC's award-winning series Blue Planet II (2017).
His literary contributions include three influential works: The Unnatural History of the Sea, which traces human impact on marine ecosystems over the past millennium; Ocean of Life, exploring contemporary ocean changes and recovery strategies; and his latest memoir, Reef Life: An Underwater Memoir.
Lucy Woodall: Principal scientist, Nekton
Lucy Woodall is Nekton’s principal scientist and an associate professor in conservation biology and policy at the University of Exeter.
She is a marine biologist with a passion for sharing the delights and importance of the aquatic world with global citizens. While her work broadly focuses on understanding the processes that drive biodiversity in the ocean, she is especially interested in the impacts of human activities on threatened species and remote ecosystems. Woodall is featured as one of Inverse’s FUTURE 50, profiling people who will shape the coming decade, as she regularly provides expert opinion on seahorses, marine conservation, ocean pollution and sustainable marine management. Woodall is also a co-founder of the Heritage Marine Foundation.
The winners of the Ocean Awards 2026 will be announced in the June 2026 issue of BOAT International. If you have any questions, please get in touch with the events team.