Charlestown Through Your Lens: Meet the Winners – and Pre-Order the 2027 Calendar
This summer, we asked you to show us Charlestown through your eyes.
The response to our first Charlestown Through Your Lens photography competition was wonderful. We received 85 photographs, capturing everything from historic ships and harbour life to dolphins in St Austell Bay, wild Cornish weather, summer days on the water and quiet moments around the harbour.
Now, after our judges have made their choices, we can finally reveal the winners – and something we’ve been working on behind the scenes.
Charlestown Harbour 2027 Calendar & Postcard Collection
The competition was always intended to become something more than a collection of photographs on a screen.
We’ve been working through the entries to create the Charlestown Harbour 2027 Calendar, featuring 12 photographs selected from the competition, alongside a Charlestown Through Your Lens collection of 12 postcards.
Together, they tell a year in the life of Charlestown through the people who know, visit and love it.
Charlestown Harbour 2027 Calendar – £12
12 photographs selected from our 2026 community photography competition.
Charlestown Through Your Lens 12 Postcard Collection – £12
12 different photographic postcards, made for sending, framing or keeping.
Calendar + Postcard Collection – £20
Our best-value option, saving £4 on buying them separately.
Pre-orders close on 25th October.
Please pre-order if you’d like one
We’re producing the calendar and postcard collection as a limited print run based on pre-orders, rather than holding large amounts of stock.
That means 25th October is the last date to order online. Once the pre-order closes, there will be no further online sales of the 2027 calendar or postcard collection.
A small number may be available from us in person later in the year, including at our Christmas events, but these will be limited and we can’t guarantee availability.
So, if you’d like a calendar, postcard collection or bundle – particularly if you’re planning to give one as a Christmas present – please order during the pre-sale rather than waiting until December.
Orders will be dispatched in November, in plenty of time for Christmas.
PRE-ORDER THE CALENDAR & POSTCARDS
Meet our 2026 winners
Our four competition categories were judged independently by people and organisations closely connected with Charlestown, its heritage, wildlife and life on the water.
Charlestown Heritage Award
Winner: Harvey Dunstan HD Drone Photography – History Sails Into a New Chapter
Selected by Andy Trudgian of Charlestown History Group.
Harvey’s photograph captures Nao Santa Maria entering Charlestown – the first visiting vessel to enter the harbour following the installation of the new lock gate.
Andy described it as a significant moment in Charlestown’s history, with the light in the image symbolising “renewal, progress and optimism for the port’s future.”
Harbour Life Award
Winner: Kevin Dyer – Charlestown at Night
Selected by Claire London of Artyfish Gallery.
Claire was drawn to the photograph’s composition and technical execution, particularly the stillness of the harbour and the moonlight entering through the harbour entrance.
Her verdict? “What a stunning shot.”
On the Water Award
Winner: Clare Harley – Summer Blues
Selected by Bruce at Charlestown Watersports.
Summer Blues captures the colour, movement and tradition of gig rowing – and the continuing importance of the water itself to life at Charlestown.
Wild Charlestown Award
Winner: Del Bond – Dolphins in the Bay
Selected by Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
Oscar Miller from the Trust described Del’s photograph as “an amazing moment captured in incredible detail”, celebrating the dolphin life found just off our shores in St Austell Bay – and reminding us how much can be discovered simply by stopping and looking.
More than four photographs
Choosing four category winners was only one part of the process.
Our judges also selected some fantastic runners-up, and we’re now making the final choices for the calendar and postcard collection from photographs submitted across the competition.
That means the finished products won’t simply reproduce the four winning images. They’ll bring together different seasons, perspectives and experiences of Charlestown, from dramatic winter seas to summer evenings, wildlife, boats and everyday harbour life.
We’ll be revealing more of the selected photographs as we get closer to print.
Most importantly, thank you to everyone who entered. The competition has given us a wonderful record of Charlestown in 2026 and, we hope, something that feels genuinely created with the community rather than simply about it.
And thank you to Charlestown History Group, Claire London of Artyfish Gallery, Charlestown Watersports and Cornwall Wildlife Trust for taking on the difficult job of judging.
Pre-order by 25th October
The Charlestown Harbour 2027 Calendar is £12, the 12 Postcard Collection is £12, or you can order both together for £20.
Pre-orders will be dispatched in November in time for Christmas.
There will be no online sales after the pre-order period closes, so if you’d like one, please order by 25 October.
