2025 Young Journalist of the Year

Five nominees have been selected for the 2025 YJA Young Journalist of the Year

YJA members can now vote for the winner of this award. Click on the voting form link below to cast your vote.

Your nominees are:
* Annie Means
* Lydia Mullan
* Loreto Rodriguez
* Freya Terry
* Jazz Turner


Here are their entries.

Annie Means
The Yachting Journalists’ Association was founded to promote greater awareness of every aspect of leisure boating. As a boater, sailor, and lifelong lover of the water, my personal life has been deeply shaped by the many niches within this world. I’m grateful that my professional life has also come to centre around these intersections.
When I applied for the YJA’s Young Journalist of the Year Award last year, my portfolio centred on the intersection of maritime culture and gender, an often-overlooked but vital topic.
That focus remains important to me, but over the past year, my work has broadened to reflect the many other dimensions of the marine world.
The portfolio I am submitting this year represents that evolution.
Compiled across the past twelve months, it brings together video features, photo essays, and documented speaking engagements, offering a complete view of my recent work.
My reporting has explored sustainability and climate narratives, the relationship between heritage boatbuilding and modern technology, and the social dynamics that shape access to boating.
Each project has deepened my perspective and sharpened my storytelling.
I am reapplying for the Young Journalist of the Year Award because I believe journalism in this space should not be limited to a single beat. Instead, it should uncover and connect the hidden, emerging, and evolving stories that define the future of our industry.
I’m also proud this year to highlight the independent media platforms I’ve built, including my Instagram account @means.maritime and, most importantly, my Substack newsletter Maritime Mosaics, which serves as a direct-to-subscriber news source.
As media continues to evolve, it’s essential to engage audiences beyond traditional print and mainstream online outlets. Short-form content and direct subscriber outreach play a vital role in bridging these gaps.
I think my work across a variety of mediums and subjects makes me a far stronger candidate than I was last year, and I look forward to submitting this application and engaging further in the world of yachting and leisure craft journalism.

Download Annie Means’s entry

Lydia Mullan
I’m entering a feature article I wrote for SAIL magazine’s October 2024 issue about being shipwrecked during the Newport Bermuda Race. It was a hugely impactful event in my racing and journalism career, and I believe sharing candid stories about safety incidents can help our community as a whole be better prepared in the future.
I felt that safety at sea courses had prepared me for a lot of our emergency response, but the emotional turmoil and mental health side was something I’d never heard discussed. Even when a rescue goes successfully, there’s still a lot of fallout, and I’ve tried to be very candid about my experience when writing about this event because I think it will help normalise not being okay. I’d like to celebrate the seamanship of both crews involved, while acknowledging that it’s a long road back to normalcy after a disaster like this.
This story led to speaking engagements, reprints, and a follow-up article on the lessons learned by members of both the rescued and rescuing crews, starting many important conversations about preparedness and emergency response.

Download Lydia Mullan’s entry

Loreto Rodriguez
I’m sharing a collection of photos and video blogs I’ve made while sailing and watching competitions.
I started creating these as a way to show people outside the sailing world what we get up to in our programme. They give a glimpse of what it’s really like to be on the water- from the buzz of racing to the fun of weekends away- as well as the thoughts and moments we experience along the way.
These videos will be published by the Scaramouche Sailing Trust on YouTube and sent in the weekly newsletter to subscribers, which will hopefully inspire more girls to get involved in sailing. I want to inspire others to find their place in the water. Just like I did!
I’ve attached a presentation with the photos and videos I’ve chosen to share. The first links are featured on the Scaramouche Sailing Trust website, along with newsletters I’ve appeared in this year. The 12th September newsletter also includes a link to a video blog I edited, which is posted on both the Scaramouche Sailing Trust
YouTube channel and Instagram. The next set of links is from interviews and videos created by external journalists.
I’ve also included some of my own photos and videos from SailGP Portsmouth, as well as pictures showing what sailing is like within the Scaramouche Sailing Trust girls’ team.
You’ll also find a series of short videos giving a glimpse into eight days of offshore sailing to Guernsey for the ASTO RNLI Guernsey–Poole race. These capture moments of night sailing, sunrises and sunsets, as well as life on board — from cooking to sleeping at sea. The final slide includes feedback I received from the Media Operations Manager at SailGP after working alongside her.

Download Loreto Rodriguez’s entry

Freya Terry
I want to share with you my blog www.she-sails.co.uk and specifically my post Weathering a different kind of storm. It talks about my experiences as a solo female sailor navigating life at sea and all the challenges that brings.
I try to talk about important issues through the lens of my own experience. I wrote this piece to simply get the thoughts out of my head. I sat on it for a while and then decided to post it. I was so very nervous, but I crossed my fingers and clicked post. What surprised me was how widely the piece resonated.
It became my most read post, with no joke, hundreds of people reading it (men, women and trans folk), saying it gave words to feelings they’d never shared, and had never seen this talked about in the context of the marine and adventure environment.
Several men told me it opened their eyes to things they assumed “weren’t a problem anymore”. That reaction taught me that storytelling has power. By putting language to experience, I was creating space for others to feel less alone.
I am submitting this post to the YJA because I’ve come to realise that, despite my difficulty with language due to my dyslexia, my blog has connected with people. That sharing the less glossy, more difficult side of sailing could be just as valuable as the technical or triumphant moments. And that the Industry needs space for stories like these, the messy, real and deeply human experiences.

Download Freya Terry’s entry

Jazz Turner

In June this year, I completed a 2,070nm circumnavigation, becoming the first woman and first disabled person to sail solo, non-stop, and unassisted around the UK and Ireland. I have documented my journey throughout, sharing stories of my background and the boat work required on the Albin Vega 27 at https://www.projectfear.uk/My-Story and also via the social media channels of @jazturnersailing, attracting 1,045 followers on Facebook and 2,828 followers on Instagram, which has 295 posts.
The voyage and story behind it have attracted worldwide media attention and so far raised £55,889 for Newhaven and Seaford Sailability, the organisation I founded alongside my parents in 2019, to enable other people with disabilities to experience the joy and freedom of sailing that I am lucky enough to get every day.
I have also written an account of my voyage for Practical Boat Owner’s Learning from Experience pages, which was published in the October 2025 issue.

Download Jazz Turner’s entry