‘Contest’ for School at Sea and Masterskip candidates

7 October 2025

Regularly, the editors get requests to support a student collecting money for a trip with Masterskip or School at Sea. We are happy to do so, but in our own way: with a ‘contest’.

In recent weeks, several more requests landed in the editors’ inbox, to support pupils who want to join School at Sea and Masterskip. Like 14-year-old Puck from Gouda, who is seeking publicity for her fundraising efforts. And other media also sometimes report on pupils who are still raising money, such as 16-year-old Devi, about whom the Algemeen Dagblad wrote last week. Earlier, we reported on 15-year-old Lotte, who sold paintings for her trip, and 16-year-old Quirijn from Hilversum, who sailed on the Wylde Swan.

Stories are worth money

The editors are enthusiastic about Masterskip and School at Sea programmes, and are happy to support fundraising efforts. Given the many requests, though, the question is: who do you offer a stage and who don’t you? Attention in a widely read medium can bring new sponsors; publicity is worth money. However, supporting all students separately is not possible. So, now we have come up with a solution. An old law in the battle for such a podium for your charity is: there’s no such thing as free publicity. Which means: there has to be something in return. In our case: stories.

Bustle and splash

Good stories about sea voyages with a large school ship are rare: stories that blow, fizz and splash, highlighting the dynamics of travelling with a group of peers, describing the adventure of the ocean and the tension between sailing and school work seeping between the lines. Such stories, which offer our readers beautiful vistas into life at sea, we love to publish.

Collecting money

By the way, the tension of whether you can collect enough money is equally interesting for a story. How do you go about it, what advice from your coaches do you take? Who are your first donors and how do you get the next ones; what are your pitfalls, what succeeds or fails and what do you have in mind? What are your milestones: is that your first 5,000 euros, or do you measure your success in some other way? We are also curious about these kinds of things.

Competition

Your story on our stage, that’s what we offer. Of course, it is not a real contest; there is no direct money involved and there may be several ‘winners’. But we do hope in this way to contribute to your success, and that of sea education programmes in general.

Puck from Gouda, whose request for publicity came to the editor viavia, is already enthusiastic. From her, we hope to pass on great stories soon; about her fundraising, and hopefully afterwards about her trip. And other future Master Chicken and School at Sea candidates are also welcome with their stories. We will definitely publish the best ones: our reward for your effort to find a good stage.

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