National Geographic Traveler, Outside Magazine Top List of SATW Foundation Lowell Thomas Contest Awards
INDIANAPOLIS — National Geographic Traveler and Outside magazines, the New York Times and Los Angeles Times are the top winners in the 2012 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition.
The Washington Post, Portland Oregonian and Afar magazine win awards as the best travel publications in North America.
Newspaper writer and columnist Jill Schensul is the 2012 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year for her work in The Record in northern New Jersey. “In a series of adventures, she chooses colorful words and just the right phrasing to hold us captive. Jill Schensul proves that she’s a professional storyteller,” judges said.
The competition, for work from spring 2011 to spring 2012, drew 1,163 entries. Judges were the faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
National Geographic Traveler tops the winner’s list with seven awards, including gold for its website and for commentary by Andrew McCarthy, actor and writer who was Travel Journalist of the Year in 2010.
Outside magazine wins four awards, three of them gold for articles on U.S./Canada travel, foreign travel and environmental tourism.
The New York Times wins four awards, the Los Angeles Times three. Winning two awards are Southern Living, the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press, USA Today and The Record.
“Inviting the reader to engage in the splendor was a key component to many of the entries,” said Terence Oliver, a judge and faculty member at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “Page after page, the reader is taken on an adventure. There were so many powerfully compelling entries that instantly captured the essence of the destination.”
In the first year of Lowell Thomas awards for best apps, the gold goes to Peter Landau for “Travel by Handstand (HST)” for the iPad; silver to George Steinmetz, “Above & Beyond” for iPad; and bronze to National Geographic Traveler, “50 Places of a Lifetime” for iPad.
Gold for best travel blog goes to Kara Williams, Jennifer Miner and Beth Blair of TheVacationGals.com. Silver goes to the National Geographic Traveler Digital Team for Intelligent Travel (Intelligenttravel.nationalgeographic.com) and bronze to Scott Tharler for Fodor’s Travel Tech blog (Fodors.com/tech).
Other top magazine and newspaper website winners, for their publications, writers and photographers, are Midwest Living, Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel, Westways, Islands, Western Horseman, Overnight Buses Travel Magazine for the iPad, The Affluent Traveler, The Globe and Mail (Toronto), West of the City (Ontario), Wired, Detroit Free Press, Miami Herald, Miller-McCune, Departures, Via, Swarthmore College Bulletin, AOLTravel/Huffington Post, Everything-everywhere.com and Gadling.
Best travel video winner is “Richard Bangs’ Adventures With Purpose — Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong: Quest for Harmony,” as seen on American Public Television. Best Travel Broadcast goes to Rudy Maxa, “Rudy Maxa’s World,” a syndicated radio travel show.
Winning best travel book is “Walnut Wine & Truffle Groves: Culinary Adventures in the Dordogne,” by Kimberley Lovato, Running Press. Gold winner for guidebook is “The Great American Ale Trail,” by Christian DeBenedetti, Running Press.
The awards are named for Lowell Thomas, acclaimed broadcast journalist, prolific author and world explorer during five decades in travel journalism. The competition is open to all North American journalists.
The SATW Foundation distributes nearly $20,000 to individual winners. “We want to thank this year’s underwriters — the Tourist Office for Flanders - Brussels and Travel Guard — for their support in recognizing and rewarding excellence in travel journalism,” said David Molyneaux, SATW Foundation president. “Their generosity helps make our prizes possible.”
Faculty members of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication, coordinated by Monica Hill, judged the competition. There were 1,163 entries. In the following list of winners, numbers in parentheses denote number of entries in the category. For questions, contact: Mary Lu Abbott, SATW Foundation administrator, 713-973-9985, or awards@satwf.com. The results, along with judges’ comments, also may be viewed online at the Foundation website, www.satwf.com.
A list of the winners and the judges’ comments are available on the Foundation website, www.satwf.com. Also, for updates and reactions follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/SATWFoundation) and Twitter (@SATWFoundation). For information about SATW, visit www.satw.org, and to see more about the convention in Indianapolis, visit www.indysatw.com.
Category 1: Grand Award — Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year (24)
Gold: Jill Schensul, travel writer, The Record, northern New Jersey
Silver: Marcia DeSanctis, freelance writer
Bronze: Aaron Teasdale, freelance writer
Category 2: Newspaper Travel Sections (11)
2A — Newspapers with 350,000 or more circulation
Gold: The Washington Post, Joe Yonan, Travel Editor
Silver: The New York Times, Danielle Mattoon, Travel Editor
Bronze: Los Angeles Times, Catharine Hamm, Travel Editor
2B — Newspapers under 350,000 circulation
Gold: The Oregonian (Portland), Alex Pulaski, Travel Editor
Silver: The Record (northern New Jersey), Marc Schwarz, Travel Editor
Bronze: San Francisco Chronicle, Spud Hilton, Travel Editor
Category 3: Magazines (17)
3A — Travel Magazines
Gold: Afar, Julia Cosgrove, Editor-in-Chief
Silver: National Geographic Traveler, Keith Bellows, Editor-in-Chief
Bronze: Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel, Marc Peyser, Editor
3B — Travel Coverage in Other Magazines
Gold: Midwest Living, Kendra L. Williams, Senior Travel Editor, and Hannah Agran, Assistant Travel Editor
Silver: Southern Living, Jennifer Cole, Features Editor, and Travel staff
Bronze: Westways, Elizabeth Harryman, Travel Editor, and Leslie Yap, Editor-in-Chief
Category 4: U.S./Canada Travel Article (107)
Gold: W. Hodding Carter, “57 Feet and Rising,” Outside
Silver: Ryan Knighton, “Riding Blind,” Outside
Bronze: David Lansing, “Living With Kapu,” Islands
Category 5: Foreign Travel Article (106)
Gold: Eric Hansen, “The Killing Fields,” Outside
Silver: Ryan T. Bell, “Comrade Cowboy, Part 1,” Western Horseman
Bronze: Marcia DeSanctis, “Green Pastures and the Ghosts of Rwanda,” Overnight Buses Travel Magazine for iPad
Category 6: Photo Illustration of Travel (61)
Gold: Brown W. Cannon III, “Mauritius: The Smallest World,” Islands
Silver: Piotr Redlinski, “Lost Cities, Found Anew,” The New York Times
Bronze: Gary Arndt, “The Canary Islands,” Everything-everywhere.com
Category 7: Special Package/Project (27)
Gold: Kim Cross, Erin Shaw Street and Rick Bragg, “What Stands in a Storm,” Southern Living, print/online/video
Silver: Christopher Reynolds, “Machu Picchu,” Los Angeles Times, print/online/video
Bronze: Jerry Soverinsky, “Bambino on Board,” AOL Travel/Huffington Post
Category 8: Cruise Travel (41)
Gold: Margie Goldsmith, “Antarctica: Following Shackleton’s Footsteps,” The Affluent Traveler
Silver: Barbara Ramsay Orr, “Discover an Explosion of Colour on This Dutch River Cruise,” The Globe and Mail, Toronto
Bronze: Barbara Ramsay Orr, “European River Cruise,” West of the City magazine, Ontario
Category 9: Adventure Travel (56)
Gold: Bill Donahue, “Are We There Yet? Six Guys in a Capsule,” Wired magazine
Silver: Mark Jenkins, “Big Cat Diary,” National Geographic Traveler
Bronze: Alex Hutchinson, “Avoiding the Crowds on an Everest Trek,” The New York Times
Category 10: Travel News/Investigative Reporting (41)
Gold: Gary Stoller, “FAA Limits Emergency Oxygen,” USA Today
Silver: Ellen Creager and Jennifer Dixon, “Hub Premiums Cost Delta Fliers Plenty at Metro,” Detroit Free Press
Bronze: Gary Stoller, “Fliers Refuse to Turn Off Devices,” USA Today
Category 11: Service-Oriented Consumer Article (58)
Gold: Hannah Sampson, “Renting a Vacation Home? Beware Scams,” The Miami Herald
Silver: Scott Mayerowitz, “Now Arriving in Alabama: Your Lost Luggage,” The Associated Press
Bronze: Jean-Francois Legare and team, “One’s Company,” enRoute
Category 12: Environmental Tourism (38)
Gold: Joshua Hammer, “Shark Bait,” Outside
Silver: Andrea Sachs, “Clean the World: Hotel Soaps That Care,” The Washington Post
Bronze: Tim Neville, “Over the Alps on a Bike With a Boost,” The New York Times
Category 13: Cultural Tourism (99)
Gold: Michael Luongo, “Ground Zero as Dark Tourist Site,” Miller-McCune magazine (now Pacific Standard)
Silver: Joshua Cooper Ramo, “Reimagining Hangzhou,” Departures
Bronze: Don George, “Japan’s Past Perfect,” National Geographic Traveler
Category 14: Personal Comment (128)
Gold: Andrew McCarthy, “The Cycle of Life,” National Geographic Traveler
Silver: Marcia DeSanctis, “Masha,” “The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2011” (Travelers’ Tales) and Recce: Literary Journeys for the Discerning Traveler
Bronze: Kimberley Lovato, “Lost and Liberated in the Dordogne,” Gadling.com
Category 15: Special-Purpose Travel (101)
Gold: Clinton Etheridge, “What Is Africa to Me?” Swarthmore College Bulletin
Silver: Ryan T. Bell, “Comrade Cowboy, Part 3,” Western Horseman
Bronze: Christina Rexrode, “Volunteering in Haiti: Good Intentions Not Enough,” The Associated Press
Category 16: Short Article on Travel (67)
Gold: Bruce Newman, “Trains That Won the West,” Via
Silver: Larry Bleiberg, “Selma, Ala: Crossing a Bridge Into Civil Rights History,” Los Angeles Times
Bronze: Susan Farlow, “Sex and the River: Male or Female Waterways,” San Francisco Chronicle
Category 17: Travel Book (22)
Gold: Kimberley Lovato, “Walnut Wine & Truffle Groves: Culinary Adventures in the Dordogne,” Running Press
Silver: Scott Wallace, “The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon’s Last Uncontacted Tribes,” Crown Publishers
Bronze: Anne Elizabeth Moore, “Cambodian Grrrl: Self-Publishing in Phnom Penh,” Cantankerous Titles
Category 18: Guidebook (40)
Gold: Christian DeBenedetti, “The Great American Ale Trail,” Running Press
Silver: Sharon Niederman, “Signs & Shrines: Spiritual Journeys Across New Mexico,” The Countryman Press
Bronze: Douglas Peebles, “Photographing Maui: Where to Find Perfect Shots and How to Take Them,” The Countryman Press
Category 19: Online Travel Journalism Sites (16)
Gold: Travel.nationalgeographic.com, National Geographic Traveler, Keith Bellows, Editor-in-Chief; Kathie Gartrell, Managing Editor, e-Publishing; Carolyn Fox, Senior Producer; Zain Habboo, Director
Silver: Fodors.com, Fodor’s Travel, Arabella Bowen, Executive Editorial Director; Erica Duecy, Deputy Web Editor
Bronze: Afar.com, Afar Media, Greg Sullivan, Editorial Director; Derek Butcher, Vice President Digital; Davina Baum, Digital Content Director
Category 20: Travel Broadcast — Audio (15)
Gold: Rudy Maxa, “Rudy Maxa’s World,” syndicated radio travel show
Silver: Joseph Rosendo, “St. Vincent & the Grenadines,” Travelscope.net podcast and radio
Bronze: Rick Steves, “Travel With Rick Steves: Steve Inskeep’s Foreign Intelligence; Vienna a la Fred Plotkin; Listeners’ Travel Resolutions,” public radio stations and podcast
Category 21: Travel Broadcast — Video (12)
Gold: Small World Productions, “Richard Bangs’ Adventures With Purpose — Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong: Quest for Harmony,” American Public Television
Silver: Ashley Colburn, “Takeoff: Thailand,” WealthTV Network
Bronze: Joseph Rosendo and Julie Rosendo, “Guatemala’s Semana Santa,” PBS stations
Category 22: Travel Blog (36)
Gold: Kara Williams, Jennifer Miner and Beth Blair, TheVacationGals.com
Silver: National Geographic Traveler Digital Team, Keith Bellows, Editor-in-Chief, Intelligent Travel, Intelligenttravel.nationalgeographic.com
Bronze: Scott Tharler, Fodor’s Travel Tech blog, Fodors.com/tech
Category 23: Travel App (40)
Gold: Peter Landau, “Travel by Handstand (HST),” for iPad
Silver: George Steinmetz, “Above & Beyond,” for iPad
Bronze: National Geographic Traveler, “50 Places of a Lifetime,” for iPad, Keith Bellows, Editor-in-Chief; Kathie Gartrell, Managing Editor, e-Publishing
