This summer, marine and art lovers across Essex painted, printed, coloured, crafted and sculpted their unique and diverse connections to the marine world. While some spotlighted a favourite species or landscape, others used the opportunity to raise awareness of the threats to our coastal creatures such as over-fishing, climate change and pollution.

With over one hundred entries, the competition was fierce and we received inspiring pieces across the three competition categories: Sea the Connection, Hidden Treasure and Troubled Waters. Judges from across the Trust selected their top entries, before Essex-based artist Michelle Parsons crowned the overall category winners.

We are pleased to announce our winners are as follows...

Sea the Connection winner: 'Joel the Hermit Crab' by Abba Ruston in Braintree.

"My name is Abba and I am eleven and whenever we go to Mersea I like to go crabbing. Our record is 112! My painting is of Joel the Hermit Crab. I sketched him in pencil, then went over the lines in pen and painted the background with liquid acrylic. Next I painted Joel in liquid watercolour paints."

Troubled Waters winner: 'Watching the Fish' by Helen Brown in Colchester.

"The image shows children enjoying a typical activity on the water, but far from typical is the view under the surface. Far removed from our childhood memories of watching fish from a little rowing boat this next generation of children are watching rubbish floating and taking over the communities of sea life."

Hidden Treasure winner: Joy by Beverley May in Saffron Walden.

"I love walking along the Essex Coast line, Walton on the Naze and Frinton in particular. Being outside in nature and using nature's finds is soothing on the soul and brings me so much joy and inspiration, Knowing that I’ve picked up sea glass, sharp ceramics and litter along the way to repurpose in this way is rewarding too."

The winning artwork, along with some of our other favourites, will soon be available to view in person in one of our Nature Discovery Centres.

Thank you to everyone who submitted their artwork to Coastal Creations Art Competition, we hope you enjoyed taking part. A big thank you to the generosity of Essex artists and businesses Michelle Parsons, Katy Laundon, Bee Creative and Geraldine Burles for donating prizes.

Take a look at some of the other amazing entries that were submitted to the competition below.