In for the win: Adventure.com award winners and nominees

2024 wins and nominations

TravMedia (UK) Awards 2024 

Travel Media Website of the Year
WINNER! Adventure.com

Inspire Global Media Awards

Positive Impact Storytelling – Outstanding Contribution
Special award given to Adventure.com

Consumer feature of the year (online) – Africa & The Indian Ocean
WINNER: Lily Girma – Beyond safaris: Why it’s time for tourism to end the Disneyfication of Africa
FINALIST: Bella Falk – How bees became a former poacher’s saving grace in Kenya‘
FINALIST: Jamie Fullerton – How to join South Africa’s Boxing Grannies: The club punching against abuse

Consumer feature of the year (online) – Europe
FINALIST: Christoffer Åhlén – As mining threatens Sámi land, these Indigenous artists are fighting to protect their home
FINALIST: Tracey Croke – A way of life: How Slovenia got so green

Consumer feature of the year (online) – Asia, Australasia & Oceania
FINALIST: Arundhati Nath – Too good to be wasted: Meet the Indian chef who’s turning food scraps into gourmet bites
FINALIST: Phoebe Smith – Could this Japanese town be a blueprint for how we should all be living?

Consumer feature of the year (online) – Americas & The Caribbean
FINALIST: Helen Iatrou – How sailing is teaching these young Antiguan women to fly high
FINALIST: Steph Dyson – The future of the Indigenous Wayuu in Colombia is hanging by a thread. Could tourism be a safety net

Consumer feature of the year (online) – Global
FINALIST: JoAnna Haugen – Want to really ‘travel like a local’? Read this first
FINALIST: Joliene Carolina – Can travel help save the world’s most threatened languages?
FINALIST: Shivya Nath – How a hummingbird helped flip my focus towards climate action

IPW Travel Writer Awards
US Travel Association and Brand USA’s IPW Travel Writer Awards were established to honor outstanding work in print journalism for United States travel destination stories
Best US Destination Feature
FINALIST: Rashmi Narayan: Legacies matter: Why one man turned personal artifacts from West Africa into a museum in Kentucky

Bessie Awards by Wanderful
The Bessie Awards honor women and gender-diverse people of impact in travel who have contributed unique voices and work to the travel industry
Most Impactful Piece of Writing
For an inspiring, engaging, and community-oriented piece of writing that has encouraged dialogue and interaction in the last year.
FINALIST: Joliene Carolina – Can travel help save the world’s most threatened languages?

Solas Awards by Travelers’ Tales
Travel and the Environment category
GOLD: Pier Nirandara – The Sardine Run: Diving into privilege and accessibility in South Africa’s ‘Blue Serengeti

2023 wins and nominations

AITO (Association of Independent Tour Operators) Travel Writer of the Year 

AITO Travel Writer of the Year (TWOTY) Over 1,500 words
SILVER: Meera Dattani – No homework needed: Learning life lessons in the lush jungles of Costa Rica
FINALIST: Lisa Young – Is this one of Jordan’s most extraordinary treks?

AITO Travel Writer of the Year Under 1,500 words
FINALIST: Nori Jemil – The first astronomers: How Australia’s Indigenous Elders read the night sky

AITO Young Travel Writer of the Year
FINALIST: Laura Field – The language of travel: Is it time we stop ‘discovering’ and ‘doing’ countries?

Press Gazette – British Journalism Awards
Travel Journalism category
FINALIST: Shafik Meghji for a portfolio of work that included In search of Britain’s forgotten rainforests

Travel Media Awards
The Travel Media Awards are the only UK national awards exclusively recognizing excellence and achievement across all forms of media

Consumer Publication of the Year Online
FINALIST: Adventure.com

National Consumer Feature of the Year
FINALIST: Hannah Foster-Roe – This is where I used to sleep”: Meet the tour guides offering a new perspective of London
FINALIST: Jamie Fullerton – Cowboys of the Kalahari: Inside the death metal subculture of the Botswana desert

Sustainability Travel Feature of the Year
FINALIST: Emma Gregg – Africa’s green cuisine revolution: Meet the new generation of safari chefs switching things up
FINALIST: Sarah Reid – We need to talk about the future of Antarctic tourism
FINALIST: Shivya Nath – What I learnt on a ‘no fly’ journey from Switzerland to the Arctic

British Guild of Travel Writers Members’ Excellence Awards

Travel feature of the Year – UK
FINALIST: Shafik Meghji – In search of Britain’s forgotten rainforests

Travel feature of the year – Europe
FINALIST: Kerry Walker – How to live well (and long) according to the Greek island of Ikaria

Sustainability feature of the year
FINALIST: Karen Gardiner – Ghost town no more: How tourism revived a once-decimated Newfoundland fishing community

ASTW (Australian Society of Travel Writers) Awards for Excellence 2023 awards Beat  2022 Convention Host Story
WINNER: Tara Wells – There’s a wave of middle-aged women learning to surf and I’m on it

Mumbrella Publish Awards

Newsletter of the Year
FINALIST: Adventure.com – Intrepid Travel with Good&Proper

Column of the Year
FINALIST: Sarah Reid – Good&Proper with Intrepid for Adventure.com

Custom publication of the year
FINALIST:  Adventure.com – Intrepid Travel with Good&Proper

LATA (Latin American Travel Association) Media Awards
RUNNER-UP: Shafik Meghji – Hope is out there: What a decade of travels in Bolivia has taught me about the climate crisis
RUNNER-UP: Mark Stratton – How did a former seaweed empire become Patagonia’s Galapagos?

Inspire Global Media Awards
The IGMAs recognise excellence across the travel media landscape, celebrating individuals and organisations bringing to life stories of sustainable, positive impact tourism

Consumer magazine feature of the year (Africa & Indian Ocean)
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Summer Rylander – Behind the scenes of a fundraising expedition in southern Africa

Consumer magazine feature of the year (Americas & The Caribbean)
WINNER: Karen Gardiner – How tourism revived a once-decimated Newfoundland fishing community
FINALIST: Mark Stratton – How did a former seaweed empire become Patagonia’s Galapagos?

Consumer magazine feature of the year (Asia, Australasia & Oceania)
WINNER: Mark Stratton – The Big Question: Can even ‘ethical’ elephant tourism ever be truly ethical?
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Nori Jemil – The first astronomers: How Australia’s Indigenous Elders read the night sky

Consumer magazine feature of the year (UK, Europe & non-geo-specific)
FINALIST: Holly Tuppen – Can you really ‘support local communities’ while traveling with a major travel company?

2022 wins and nominations

Travel Media Awards
The Travel Media Awards are the only UK national awards exclusively recognizing excellence and achievement across all forms of media
Consumer Publication of the Year: Online
FINALIST: Adventure.com

ASTW (Australian Society of Travel Writers) Awards for Excellence

ASTW Travel Writer of the Year
FINALIST: Sarah Reid for a portfolio that includes We need to talk about the future of Antarctic tourism and Does the future of scuba diving lie outside the oceans?

Best immersive experience travel story
FINALIST: Kerry van der Gadt – Letters be known: How an ancient alphabet helped Armenia find its voice

Bessie Awards by Wanderful
The Bessie Awards honor women and gender-diverse people of impact in travel who have contributed unique voices and work to the travel industry

Inclusion Award for a brand that has shown outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion in the last year, whether in the form of a campaign, piece of content, partnership, or other initiative
FINALIST: Adventure.com

Most Impactful Piece of Writing for an inspiring, engaging, and community-oriented piece of writing that has encouraged dialogue and interaction
FINALIST: Narges Ghafary – Now I’ve left Afghanistan, will I ever have a home to return to?

2021 wins and nominations

Travel Media Awards
The Travel Media Awards are the only UK national awards exclusively recognizing excellence and achievement across all forms of media
Photography Award
FINALIST: Nori Jemil for a portfolio of work that included Welcome to Patagonia’s Route of Parks, the world’s largest conservation project

LATA (Latin American Travel Association) Media Awards
Blog, Vlog or Podcast of the Year Award
RUNNER-UP: Shafik Meghji – From war to wildlife: Why you should visit the Falkland Islands
Blog, Vlog or Podcast of the Year Award
FINALIST: Shafik Meghji – Riding the railway to the end of the world

2020 wins and nominations

Travel Media Awards
The Travel Media Awards are the only UK national awards exclusively recognizing excellence and achievement across all forms of media
Consumer Publication of the Year – Online
FINALIST: Adventure.com
Specialist Travel Writer of the Year
WINNER: Sarah Reid – for a portfolio of work on emerging destinations including features for Adventure.com

Australian Society of Travel Writers (ASTW) Awards for Excellence
ASTW Travel Writer of the Year
WINNER: Sarah Reid for a portfolio of work including Adventure.com features, As the oil flows, can Guyana continue to be a beacon of sustainable tourism? and Is Saudi Arabia really ready to receive the world’s travelers?
FINALIST: Tayla Gentle for a body of work including The wildest trip I’ve ever taken involved total silence and no passport for Adventure.com
Best trade and tourism news story
FINALIST: Louise Southerden – “The future has to be sustainable”: Your travel guide for 2020 (and beyond)
FINALIST: Jennifer Ennion – The best way to help during Australia’s historic drought? Visit
Best adventure travel story
FINALIST: Sarah Reid – As the oil flows, can Guyana continue to be a beacon of sustainable tourism?
FINALIST: Tayla Gentle – The wildest trip I’ve ever taken involved total silence and no passport
Best travel story about AGM destination
FINALIST: Shaney Hudson – Can Indigenous tourism help protect the Great Barrier Reef?

2019 wins and nominations

Bessie Awards / Women in Travel Summit (WITS)
Most impactful piece of writing
WINNER: Lola Akinmade Åkerström – The color of adventure: When will travel show more diversity?

ASTW (Australian Society of Travel Writers) Awards for Excellence
Best Australian story under 1,000 words
WINNER: Sarah Reid – What’s it like to swim into the world’s weirdest underwater orgy?
Best adventure travel story
FINALIST: Tracey Croke – There’s no war in the Wakhan: Hiking remote, spectacular Afghanistan
FINALIST: Steve Madgwick – The things I learned taking public transport the entire length of Africa
Best travel photo
FINALIST: Tracey Croke for her image (pictured above) of locals playing the ancient game of Buzkashi in There’s no war in the Wakhan: Hiking remote, spectacular Afghanistan

LATA (Latin American Media Association) Media Awards
Online post of the year
WINNER: Luke Waterson – The road to Choquequirao: Is this Peru’s next Inca Trail?

Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) Awards
International feature
SILVER: Bill Fink – A country that doesn’t exist: The twilight zone of Transnistria

Travel Media Awards
Young Writer of the Year
FINALIST: Lottie Gross – Forget Uber Eats: Mumbai’s 125-year-old food delivery system wins the day

British Guild of Travel Writers members’ excellence awards
BGTW Travel Writer of the Year
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Jon Holmes for a portfolio of work that includes In Alaska, the railroad leads to nowhere, and that’s absolutely fine and Can you speak ‘Gorilla’? The language lesson that might just save your life
Best transport feature
FINALIST: Jon Holmes – In Alaska, the railroad leads to nowhere, and that’s absolutely fine
FINALIST: Shafik Meghji – Riding the railway to the end of the world

AITO (Association of Independent Tour Operators) Travel Writer of the Year
Online feature of the year
FINALIST: John Malathronas – Into the ‘other Amazon’ and the search for Brazil’s best beach
Young travel writer of the year
FINALIST: Lottie Gross – Forget Uber Eats: Mumbai’s 125-year-old food delivery system wins the day

ATTA (African Travel and Tourism Association) Media Awards
Best international article
FINALIST: Steve Madgwick – The things I learned taking public transport the entire length of Africa

National Travel Industry Awards (Australian Federation of Travel Agents/AFTA)
Best travel writer—consumer
FINALIST: Tayla Gentle – Meet the Cape Town graffiti artists helping transform their township

2018 wins and nominations

NATJA (North American Travel Journalists Association) Awards
Culinary Travel: Online Publication (Gold award)
WINNER: Lola Akinmade Åkerström – Seal soup for dinner? Get to know Greenland’s Inuit cuisine
Destination Travel: Online Publication (Silver) and Sports, Recreation and Adventure: Online Publication
HONORABLE MENTION: Lola Akinmade Åkerström – Inside Ilulissat, Greenland, the iceberg capital of the world
Illustrated Story: Online Publication (Bronze) and Historical Travel: Online Publication
BRONZE: Lola Akinmade Åkerström – Beyond Petra: Hiking borderlands and finding community in northern Jordan

ASTW (Australian Society of Travel Writers) Awards for Excellence
Travel writer of the year
FINALIST: John Borthwick for a body of work which included Turn and face the strain: How has travel changed since the ’70s? for Adventure.com

AITO (Association of Independent Tour Operators) Travel Writer of the Year
Travel Writer of the Year (Under 1,500 words)
FINALIST: Richard Mellor – In search of silence: Is this England’s quietest spot?