Brian Carlin takes Onboard Reporter top spot in leg one of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15

Celebrating the most challenging sports journalism job in the world, the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 Onboard Reporter (OBR) award, sponsored by Inmarsat, recognises and showcases the extraordinary work of the OBRs in one of the most extreme sporting events. The first OBR award of the 2014-15 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race has been awarded to Brian Carlin of Team Vestas Wind. Delivering engaging, humorous and emotional photographs, videos, blogs and social media posts during leg one makes Brian a well-deserved winner of the 1,000 Euro prize and one to watch for the duration of the race.

Given the extremely high-calibre of content that the OBRs have been gathering and editing, Inmarsat and the Volvo Ocean Race agreed that awarding one prize per leg was not enough. Amory Ross of Team Alvimedica and Matt Knighton of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing were also recognised for their work between Alicante and Cape Town at the Life at the Extreme awards ceremony in Cape Town on Friday night; both OBRs were the first to win the runner-up prizes of 500 Euros each.

“The OBRs are crucial to the Volvo Ocean Race. They are the ones responsible for telling the stories of their teams while out at sea and it’s not an easy task,” said Knut Frosted, CEO Volvo Ocean Race. “The content they have been producing and the engagement with fans and followers of the race has been phenomenal; and this is just the beginning. Brian is a very well-deserved winner for the first leg.”

Admitting to having dreamt of becoming an Onboard Reporter for many years, Brian Carlin was over the moon at the news of his leg one win. “It’s an absolute honour to win the award,” said Carlin. “The other OBRs produced such amazing content throughout the course of the leg; I really didn’t expect to win. It’s a dream come true to be part of the Volvo Ocean Race.”

Presenting the award on behalf of Inmarsat, Chris McLaughlin, Senior Vice President, External Affairs at Inmarsat, said: “This really is the most difficult sports journalism job in the world and we felt the prize needed to reflect the incredible work each OBR has produced. Brian’s work during the first leg was outstanding; we really got to know the crew on board Team Vestas Wind and he was fantastic at storytelling which has made his content a joy to read and watch. We are looking forward to continuing to follow the journey of each team through the eyes of the OBRs.”

The addition of runner-up prizes for each leg, and for the overall award, are not the only changes that Inmarsat and Volvo Ocean Race have agreed upon. The final, overall award winner will be decided in Gothenburg by an extended panel including high profile representatives of the media, television and film industry. The panel will review content from each OBR from the duration of the race and will have the difficult task of deciding who will win the overall prize of 10,000 Euros and runner-up prizes of 5,000 Euros each.