The winners of the Travel Media Awards 2016 were announced on Thursday 27 October 2016 at a sparkling ceremony at ME London Hotel. Over 250 people were present to see the cream of the travel media crop honoured with an Award, including representatives of some of the UK’s leading travel media and industry organisations.
The evening saw 20 publications, broadcasters, journalists and photographers awarded prestigious trophies, including British journalist and broadcaster Michael Portillo, who was presented with the Special Contribution Award.
The Travel Media Awards were created in recognition of the hugely influential role that today’s travel media play. Submissions were judged by some of the UK’s most influential travel industry figures alongside leading travel writers and editors. Categories covered a wide range of disciplines and media, from consumer travel magazines (both national and regional) to travel trade titles and guide books.
CONSUMER MAGAZINE TRAVEL SECTION OF THE YEAR
Harper’s Bazaar
CONSUMER TRAVEL PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR
The Sunday Times Travel Magazine – View entry
CONSUMER TRAVEL WRITER OF THE YEAR
Michelle Jana Chan, Condé Nast Traveller – View entry
CUSTOMER MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR
Excelente – Iberia – View entry
NATIONAL BROADSHEET NEWSPAPER TRAVEL SECTION OF THE YEAR
The Sunday Times – Travel – View entry
NATIONAL CONSUMER TRAVEL FEATURE OF THE YEAR
Orla Thomas for ‘The Real Jungle Book’ in Lonely Planet Traveller – View entry
NATIONAL TABLOID NEWSPAPER TRAVEL SECTION OF THE YEAR
Metro – View entry
ONLINE CONSUMER TRAVEL PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR
The Telegraph – View entry
ONLINE TRAVEL TRADE PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR
TTG – ttgmedia.com – View entry
REGIONAL PUBLICATION TRAVEL FEATURE OF THE YEAR
‘Ian Belcher for ‘The Rock Less Travelled’ in Brummell Magazine – View entry
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION AWARD
Michael Portillo
TRAVEL AND TOURISM PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD
Sergio Villalba for ‘British Virgin Islands: Learning the ropes’ in The Sunday Times Travel Magazine – View entry
TRAVEL BLOGGER AND VLOGGER OF THE YEAR
Alex Hunter – youtube.com/attachetravel – View entry
TRAVEL BROADCAST PROGRAMME – TV, RADIO, ONLINE
Mark Stratton: Between Life and Death – Toraja People of Sulawesi, BBC From Our Own Correspondent – View entry
TRAVEL GUIDE BOOK OF THE YEAR
Bradt – A Summer of British Wildlife, by James Lowen – View entry
TRAVEL MEDIA INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGN & CONTENT OF THE YEAR
‘Travel Memories’ commercial and editorial partnership by Harper’s Bazaar for The Ritz-Carlton – View entry
TRAVEL TRADE FEATURE OF THE YEAR
Chloe Cann for ‘Lost and Found in the Wild’ in TTG – View entry
TRAVEL TRADE PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR
Selling Travel – View entry
TRAVEL TRADE WRITER OF THE YEAR
Peter Ellegard, Freelance – View entry
YOUNG TRAVEL WRITER OF THE YEAR
Hannah Summers, Escapism – View entry 1 – View entry 2
High resolution images of the event can be downloaded from our Flickr album. Please credit images to: Andy Huntley / Travel Media Awards
CONSUMER TRAVEL PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR
Condé Nast Traveller
Lonely Planet Traveller
The Sunday Times Travel Magazine
Wanderlust
Which? Travel
CONSUMER TRAVEL WRITER OF THE YEAR
Jon Holmes, Freelance
Michelle Jana Chan, Freelance
Gavin Haines, Freelance
Nick Boulos, Freelance
Stanley Stewart, Conde Nast Traveller
CUSTOMER MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR
Audley Traveller – Audley Travel
Compass – Cox & Kings
EasyJet Traveller – Easyjet
Excelente – Iberia
N by Norwegian – Norwegian
CONSUMER MAGAZINE TRAVEL SECTION OF THE YEAR
Bird Watching
Cosmopolitan
Elle
Harper’s Bazaar
Olive
NATIONAL BROADSHEET NEWSPAPER TRAVEL SECTION OF THE YEAR
The Sunday Telegraph – Discover
The Independent – Traveller
The Sunday Times – Travel
The Daily Telegraph – Travel
The Telegraph – Ultratravel
NATIONAL CONSUMER TRAVEL FEATURE OF THE YEAR
Christina Lamb for ‘Into Iran’ in The Sunday Times
Emma Thomson for ‘Djibouti: Africa’s hottest new travel destination’ in The Telegraph
Margaret Atwood for ‘The Call of the Wild’ in Harper’s Bazaar
Mark Stratton for ‘Iran: Mission Impassable’ in National Geographic Traveller (UK)
Orla Thomas for ‘The Real Jungle Book’ in Lonely Planet Traveller
NATIONAL TABLOID NEWSPAPER TRAVEL SECTION OF THE YEAR
Daily Mail
Daily Mirror
Metro
The Sunday Mirror
The Sun
ONLINE CONSUMER TRAVEL PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR
Independent – independent.co.uk/travel
Passport Stamps – passportstamps.uk
Rough Guides – roughguides.com
Telegraph – telegraph.co.uk/travel
Family Traveller – familytraveller.com
World Travel Guide – worldtravelguide.net
ONLINE TRAVEL TRADE PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR
The Business Travel News – btnews.co.uk
Travel Daily UK – traveldailymedia.com/uk
TravelMole – travelmole.com
TTG – ttgmedia.com
TRAVEL MEDIA INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGN & CONTENT OF THE YEAR
‘Oceans’ editorial campaign by Family Traveller
Food & Travel international content strategy
‘Travel Memories’ commercial and editorial partnership by Harpar’s Bazaar for Ritz Carlton
‘London Northolt’ editorial campaign by The Business Travel News – btnews.co.uk
‘The Rough Guide to 2016’ editorial campaign by Rough Guides
‘TravelSuper’ magazine app by TravelSupermarket
REGIONAL PUBLICATION TRAVEL FEATURE OF THE YEAR
Ian Belcher for ‘The Rock Less Travelled’ in Brummell Magazine
Jon Hawkins for ‘Reinventing the Heel’ in Escapism
Karen Bowerman for ‘Hanging with the Howler Monkeys’ in Bristol Evening Post
Lizzie Pook for ‘Waterworld’ in Escapism
Mark Nicholls for ‘Across the flat lands of wide vistas and sky’ in Eastern Daily Press
TRAVEL AND TOURISM PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD
Cedric Arnold for ‘Kerala: Soul Food’ in The Sunday Times Travel Magazine
Jon Attenborough for ‘France: Off the Eaten Track’ in The Sunday Times Travel Magazine
Kerry Christiani for ‘Antarctica: a voyage to another world’ in Lonely Planet
Per Kårehed for ‘Gothenburg’s Retro Road’ in n by Norwegian
Sergio Villalba for ‘British Virgin Islands: Learning the Ropes’ in The Sunday Times Travel Magazine
TRAVEL BLOGGER AND VLOGGER OF THE YEAR
Alex Hunter – youtube.com/attachetravel
Jayne Gorman – girltweetsworld.com
Kash Bhattacharya – budgettraveller.org
Paul Farrugia – globalhelpswap.com
Stuart Forster – go-eat-do.com
TRAVEL GUIDE BOOK OF THE YEAR
Bradt – A Summer of British Wildlife, by James Lowen
Cicerone – The Book of the Bothy, by Phoebe Smith
Insight Guides – Great Breaks Brighton, Sussex, South Downs, by Emma Gregg
Lonely Planet – Pocket Porto, by Kerry Christiani
Rough Guides – Reykjavik
TRAVEL TRADE FEATURE OF THE YEAR
Chloe Cann for ‘Lost and found in the wild’ in TTG
Meera Dattani for ‘A new dawn’ in Travel Weekly
Pippa Jacks for ‘The keys to happiness’ in TTG
Sophie Griffiths for ‘Rebirth of Detroit’ in TTG
Tamara Hinson for ’Take it to the Mex’ in Travel Weekly
TRAVEL TRADE PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR
Buying Business Travel
Selling Travel
The Business Travel Magazine
TTG Luxury
TTG
TRAVEL TRADE WRITER OF THE YEAR
Katherine Lawrey, TTG
Matthew Parsons, TTG
Peter Ellegard, Freelance
Pippa Jacks, TTG
Sophie Griffiths, TTG
YOUNG TRAVEL WRITER OF THE YEAR
Hannah Summers, Escapism
Kate Hamilton, Suitcase Magazine
Lauren Razavi, Freelance
Sam Kinchin-Smith, Freelance
Will Coldwell, Guardian News & Media
TRAVEL BROADCAST PROGRAMME – TV, RADIO, ONLINE
An Interview with an Astronaut – The world from Space, Rough Guides
A Walk in the Woods – In Bryson’s footsteps on the Appalachian Trail, Extreme Sleeps
Between Life and death – Toraja People of Sulawesi, Mark Stratton, BBC From Our Own Correspondent
British Airways City Guide: San Jose
The Travel Show, BBC2
All of the categories within the 2016 Travel Media Awards were judged by a panel of travel industry leaders, combined with members of the travel media, providing for a unique assessment of entries, leading to only the very best in class winning a coveted “Media Awards Trophy”.
Judging was undertaken against a proven scoring system, with strict criteria for each category, while travel media judges assessed only non-conflicting categories. In categories where high numbers of entries necessitated first-stage shortlisting, we used the services of impartial non-travel editors, sub-editors and journalists, whose details can be found here. The shortlist was then sent to the judging panels to decide on the overall winner.
Adam Finch, CEO, Covermore
Adrian Phillips, Managing Director, Bradt Travel Guides
Alison Holmes, Head of The Co-operative Travel Consortium
Allan Lambert, Managing Director, Blue Chip Holidays
Andy Freeth, Managing Director, Gold Medal and Travel2
Andy Hoskins, Editor, The Business Travel Magazine
Ben Todd, Head of Communications, Thomas Cook Airlines UK
Brian Young, Managing Director, G Adventures
Carolyn Boyd, Freelance Writer and Editor
Chloe Berman, PR Manager UK and Europe, Intrepid Group
Chris Roe, Vice President Sales, Distribution and Loyalty UK & Ireland, Accor
Claire Hancer, Country Manager UK, Efteling
Dale Templar, Managing Director, One Tribe TV
David Wickers, Travel Editor, Good House Keeping
Ed Grenby, Editor, Sunday Times Travel Magazine
Emma Tagg, Senior Global PR Manager, Hotels.com
Francine Sheridan, Regional Director, LA Tourism & Convention Board
Fiona Harris, Director of International PR, Corinthia Hotels
Gary Anslow, Sales Director, Monarch Travel Group
Geoff Cowley, Managing Director, Wyndham Vacation Rentals UK
Greg Lawson, Head of Travel Insurance, Collinson Group
Hannah Summers, Associate Editor, Square Up Media
Jae Hopkins, Managing Director, Exodus Travels Ltd
Jane Atkins, Sales and Product Director, Superbreaks
Jo Stevenson, Area Director of Sales and Marketing, Dorchester Collection
Jules Kerby, Director of Corporate Communications – Europe, Hilton Worldwide
Julie Murphy, Country Sales Manager, UK & Ireland, All Nippon Airways Co. Ltd
Lyn Hughes, Co Founder and Editor-in-chief, Wanderlust
Kash Bhattacharya, Blogger, budgettraveller.org
Kate Bates, Head of PR, ATD Travel Services
Kerry Smith, Editor-in-chief, British Airways’ High Life
Lisa Minot, Travel Editor, The Sun
Louise Newton, Marketing Manager, Inghams
Mark Boulle, Marketing Manager, Beachcomber Tours
Mark Duguid, Commercial and Product Director, Kuoni
Melanie Jones, Senior Manager, Northern & Western Europe, Singapore Tourism Board
Natalie Sexton, Manager, Marketing & Public Relations – UK & Ireland, Silversea Cruises
Nick Wilkinson, General Manager Northern Europe & MEA, Norwegian Cruise Line
Nigel Thompson, Travel Editor, Daily Mirror
Pat Riddell, Editor, National Geographic Traveller (UK)
Paul Lacey, Head of Sales UK and Ireland, Voyages SNCF
Penny White, Sales Manager, Avis Budget UK
Pete Mathers, UK Media Executive, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority
Phil Bloomfield, Global Head of Comms and PR, Cheapflights
Pippa Jacks, Editor, TTG
Rebecca Lowe, Head of PR, Visit England
Rhiannon Batten, Travel Editor, Olive Magazine
Sarah Barnett, PR & Communications Director, Brand USA
Sarah Marshall, Travel Editor, Press Association
Shaun Hinds, Managing Director, EMEA & APAC, Bridgestreet Global Hospitality
Slawek Kozdras, Freelance Travel Photographer
Stephanie Francis, PR Manager, Last Minute.com
Steve Hartridge, Editor, Selling Travel
Susan Ward-Davies, Travel and Lifestyle Director, Elle
Victoria Kyme, PR Manager, German National Tourist Office
The advisory panel consisted of leading travel businesses and specialist travel PR companies, and played a key role in shaping the awards.
They also provided invaluable knowledge and insight into the travel media sector, and to establishing the Awards as must enter event for all travel writers, broadcaster and photographers.
Jonathan Sloan is the Managing Director of Hills Balfour, a full service representation agency specialising in the tourism industry.
Debbie Flynn is the founder and CEO of Brighter Group, one of the UK’s leading travel, hospitality and tourism public relations and representation agencies, now in it’s 20th year.
Maria Pieri is the Editorial Director for APL Media, a specialist travel and lifestyle content media provider, whose titles include the flagship title National Geographic Traveller (UK) and ABTA Magazine.
Howard Salinger is regional director for TravMedia, the UK’s leading online news service for travel journalists.
With more than 20 years’ experience in travel and leisure PR, Rachel has a track record of success working for some of the leading brands in travel.
Fiona is Director of Public Relations for Cellet Marketing and PR, one of the UK’s foremost marketing agencies within the travel and tourism sector.
Debbie Hindle is the managing director of Four bgb, the UK’s leading travel marketing and public relations communications agency. She has been listed as one of the top 100 most influential women in leisure and hospitality.
