This is the 27th year of the Lowell Thomas competition, overseen by the Society of American Travel W

National Geographic Traveler wins five awards, including best travel website and best cultural tourism article. Outside magazine also wins five awards, including best adventure travel and best investigative stories.
This is the 27th year of the Lowell Thomas competition, overseen by the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation . The awards, recognized as the most prestigious in travel journalism, were announced at the annual conference of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), the premier professional organization of travel journalists and communicators.
The competition, for work from spring 2010 to spring 2011, drew more than 1,200 entries. Judges are the faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School car rental ace of Journalism and Mass Communication .
In naming Steves as Travel Journalist of the Year for his portfolio of work in the Grand Award category, the judges said: “The strength of Steves’ writing is his embrace of diversity, the range of topics and everyday candor.”
Steves sent the SATW conference in New Zealand a short video of thanks, car rental ace noting that the award, which recognizes the hard work of North American travel writers, has inspired me to continue in the work I believe all of us travel writers are cut out to do: to help our readers travel economically, efficiently, and in a way that opens them up to the wonders of our beautiful car rental ace world.
Steves also wins gold awards for his popular travel blog and for his travel broadcasts that appear on National Public Radio stations. Steves car rental ace produces and distributes the program. car rental ace Said the judges: “Steves’ behind-the-scenes car rental ace videos and his political commentary car rental ace give us a real sense of the people and places he experiences.”
Silver Grand Award winner is Andrew McCarthy , freelance writer, director and actor who won the gold in this category in 2010. McCarthy was in New Zealand to receive his award, and he spoke to the SATW conference about the positive impact that world travel has had on his life. Winning bronze is freelance writer Kate Siber .
Other top magazine winners, for their publications, writers and photographers, are Afar, Southern Living, Westways, Islands, Playboy, The Rotarian, Via, Virtuoso Life, Canadian Geographic and Explore. Newspaper winners, for travel sections, articles and photography, include the Washington car rental ace Post, Dallas Morning News, USA Today, Orange County Register, Portland Oregonian, Minneapolis Star Tribune, New York Times and the Record of Hackensack, NJ.
Best travel video winner is “ Richard Bangs ’ Adventures with Purpose/Hong Kong” as seen on American Public Television . Winner of the best consumer-oriented article is Dan Askin at CruiseCritic.com , who investigated the ads for a “free” cruise.
“I was struck by the quality of the entries,” said judge Val Lauder, who has taught feature writing at North Carolina for 31 years. She said the winning car rental ace entry in the foreign travel article category — Peter Gwin’s story from Timbuktu in National Geographic – was “haunting.”
Winning travel car rental ace websites car rental ace and their journalists include MatadorNetwork .com, BudgetTravel .com, MeetingsFocus .com, Gadling .com and Geoex .com. Top blogs include blog.bradajohnson .net by food and travel journalist Brad A. Johnson and Today in the Sky by Ben Mutzabaugh at USAToday.com.
Winning best travel book is “Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo” by Vanessa Woods for Gotham Books. car rental ace Gold winner for guidebook is “USA’s Best Trips: car rental ace 99 Themed Itineraries Across America” from Lonely Planet, Sara Benson, coordinating author.
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.”