The Wouter van Dusseldorp Good News Award

When the Zeepost Foundation was set up, one of the first questions the editors asked was how we could honour Walter’s legacy. It became an award that would bear his name: an award, as an incentive for positive news.

Even before it was completely settled that there would be a sequel to the Zeepost and Scheepspost, Peter Fokkens was thinking of a ‘Wouter van Dusseldorp Award’ to honour Wouter’s merit for charter shipping and for news gathering around charter shipping and sailing heritage. Once the foundation was a fact, it took extremely little effort to get the noses in the same direction for this.

Different areas of focus

Anyone who took the trouble to check what Wouter was already reporting on in the various ‘Posts’ would come across different sections. Wouter of course often reported on developments in the charter and heritage fleet, but also reported on nature – mostly the Wadden Sea – and on the planning around the IJsselmeer. And because it was his own home port and sailing area, the port concerns of Hoorn and the pond weed misery on the Markermeer also often featured in the columns. Sustainability, safety and infrastructure received a lot of attention, and in the Scheepspost all the restorations and museum projects that were in the news elsewhere, got a spot in the newsletter and on the site. He translated his own growing interest in sail supported merchant shipping – Wouter taught ‘Sailing Techniques and Management’ at the KZV course at the Enkhuizen Nautical College – into the new medium the Zeilpost.

Socially involved

Since there was no reason to change it, we continued all those sections unchanged. Some have been given their own place, or a different name, but the structure mainly remained unchanged. There is no section that we put in the spotlight, so striking news does not get special attention either. Nevertheless, there are always developments that, especially when we feel it concerns particularly positive news, deserve special attention. Wouter, socially committed as he was, had a nose for such developments. Because they are new or reflect a new trend, or because they say something about the zeitgeist of the moment, or just about the future of the fleet and the environment in which it moves.

Encourage

We too like to highlight such news, but we can’t do much more in our sections: the Posts are primarily a conduit, and while our selection says something about our preferences, we’re not going to make up news ourselves if there isn’t any. But encouragement is possible. And so we ended up with an award that would honour both Wouter and the initiatives he had a special affinity for – and that we share with him. Honour: that especially, because what we can do as a news medium is to draw attention to: we don’t have funds at our disposal to hand out, and we don’t have much more than a fine work of art to offer as a challenge prize. We can, however, pass on all news about the winner for a year with extra attention, and we do so with love. That work of art, by the way, consists of a traditional ‘klik’: a beautiful wooden helm ornament, crowned with three copper sails – one for each ‘Post’. The artist who made it is sculptor Floor van Leun, who has a studio opposite the restoration yard behind the Workumer sea lock.

Zeilvracht

The Zeilpost had only existed for a short time when Wouter died, and although it was a fledgling, we decided to keep nurturing it. With success, as the Zeilpost rejoices in a growing amount of readers. It should come as no surprise, then, that the first Good News Award was awarded to the Fair Winds Collective, a young and enthusiastic club of people bringing together various sailing cargo initiatives in Amsterdam North. At the Traditional Ships Fair, the occasion on which the award is presented, the Fair Winds Collective and sailing freight received extra attention this year, especially through the efforts of the Enkhuizen Nautical College, which is also a major driving force behind Fair Winds Collective.

Do Wad

This year it was the turn of a nature-related initiative: the Doe eens Wad foundation of sea captain and sailing skipper Nienke Dijkstra. She makes dry trips across the eastern Wadden Sea with guests on her traditional, seagoing  yacht Raaf, collecting and carrying plastic waste with large backpacks produced in-house. A small initiative that has been running for more than a decade, but has nevertheless received little news coverage. For the editors, reason to change this: in the coming year, you can expect more news about Nienke’s initiative at intervals.

Participate yourself

Until now, the editors, in consultation with the board of the Zeepost foundation, decided who would receive the Wouter van Dusseldorp Encouragement Prize for Positive News. But now that the prize has been awarded a few times, we like to involve our readers in that choice. So if in the coming year you come across an organisation, person or initiative that you think is eminently eligible for the award, you are hereby cordially invited to let us know. We will consider all suggestions. The award will be presented again in 2025 at the Traditional Ships Fair.

Photo: presenting the award to Nienke Dijkstra of Doe eens Wad. Editor-in-chief Peter Fokkens and chairman Marja Goud presented the award.

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