*Our judges

Our panel of coastal experts have told us who they think has shone during 2011 and their nominations form the short list

TOM JOULE managing director of Joules,
sponsors of the Awards  joules.com

ALEX WADE coast contributor, sports writer and
author of Surf Nation  alexwade.com

BEN AINSLIE Olympic sailor and director of the
Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy
wpnsa.org.uk

BEN FOGLE TV presenter and adventurer 
benfogle.com

CATHERINE GAZOLLI chief executive of
Slow Food UK  slowfood.org.uk

CLARE GOGERTY editor of coast magazine

JONATHAN KNIGHT photographer and writer
of the Cool Camping guidebooks coolcamping.co.uk

PATRICIA YATES director of strategy and
communications at VisitBritain visitbritain.com

RICHARD HARRINGTON communications manager at
the Marine Conservation Society  mcsuk.org

ROMA BACKHOUSE director of Hidden Cities and co-founder
of Seasider, a campaign to promote the British seaside
to new audiences  seasider.co.uk

SALLY SHALAM hotel critic and freelance
travel journalist  sallyshalamsbritain.co.uk