"There is still a lot left to research in the history of our country's maritime affairs," Hele Kiimann, the head of research at the Estonian Maritime Museum, said. "We encourage the students of universities and institutions of professional higher education to research Estonian maritime history and to apply for the prize of our museum with their completed thesis."

The best work will be chosen by an expert evaluation committee. The application deadline is February 5, and the winners will be announced on February 23 — the Estonian Maritime Museum's anniversary.

"From my own experience, I encourage to take part in the competition if the thesis is in any way linked to Estonian maritime history – for example, even a quite technical topic may also include an important part of the history of maritime affairs of Estonia," said Tauri Roosipuu, who was awarded the main prize in the previous year.

The competition is open to theses defended at an Estonian or foreign university within the last two years.

More information about the prize could be found at the Estonian Maritime Museum's website.

Last year, when the competition was held for the second time, the main prize was awarded to Tauri Roosipuu for his master's thesis Comparison of previous investigations of MV Estonia in relation to new information defended at the Estonian Maritime Academy and the special prize was awarded to Tuuli Jõesaar for her master's thesis Methods of making medieval footwear on the example of the Kadriorg cog find complex defended at the Viljandi Culture Academy.

The main areas of research of the Estonian Maritime Museum are maritime archaeology and naval affairs. In addition, the exhibitions focus also on navigation, famous maritime journeys and passenger ships.

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