‘Faces Of The Waterways’ Photo Contest Winners Announced
We Work The Waterways, Waterways Council Inc. and The Waterways Journal recently announced the winners of the 2025 We Work The Waterways photo contest. This year’s theme was “Faces of the Waterways,” with photos celebrating the people and places that define America’s rivers, canals and harbors.
Photo submissions were divided into four broad categories: Faces of Commerce, Faces of the Future, Faces of the Culture and Faces of Stewardship. Faces of Commerce entries captured portraits of people at work along the nation’s rivers, ports and canals. Faces of the Future photos captured scenes from training events, classrooms, recruiting events or other scenes emphasizing future mariners. Faces of the Culture photos captured the communities, traditions and pastimes related to the nation’s waterways. Finally, Faces of Stewardship entries captured portraits of the work of nonprofits, cleanups, energy response efforts, dredging, Corps projects and more.
In all, more than 50 photos were submitted for the contest, with close to 500 votes cast to determine the winners.
The Faces of Commerce winning photo was “Sweat and Steel” by Steve Cross. The photo captures two mariners building tow. The Faces of the Future winning photo was “Helping Dad at Work” by Thomas Sullivan. The photo features a captain on duty and his child in the wheelhouse. The Faces of the Culture winning photo was “South Bound Bridge Approach 2 a.m. Memphis” by Tim Haman. The photo captures a barge tow pointed downbound near the bridge over the Mississippi River bridge in Memphis, Tenn. Finally, the Faces of Stewardship winning photo was “Evening Sunset” by Kelly Babin. The photo captures a towboat pushing tank barges, with a silhouette of a pilot in the foreground.
Winning photos were featured on the three organizations’ social media feeds.
