LOWELL THOMAS TRAVEL JOURNALISM COMPETITION
28 Years of Rewarding Journalists for Outstanding Work in the Field

2010 Lowell Thomas Winners

Afar Magazine, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle
Earn 2010 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Honors

SATW Foundation president David Molyneaux, right, and Foundation administrator Mary Lu Abbott, left, congratulate Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award winners Spud Hilton, Kit Bernardi representing Midwest Living magazine and Laura Del Rosso.

Afar, a new magazine, and the venerable Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle win top honors as the best travel publications in North America in the 2010 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition.

Among other winners, Outside magazine wins seven individual awards, Islands magazine, USA Today and the Los Angeles Times four and the New York Times, Afar and National Geographic Traveler three.

BudgetTravel.com wins gold for the best online travel journalism site.

Travel Journalist of the Year is Andrew McCarthy, who won the gold for his freelance writing in some of North America’s best travel magazines.

This is the 26th year of the annual Lowell Thomas competition, overseen by the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation. The awards, recognized as the most prestigious in the field, were announced in Leipzig, Germany, at the annual convention of the Society of American Travel Writers, the professional organization of travel journalists and communicators.

The competition, for work from spring 2009 to spring 2010, drew 1,161 entries. Judging was done by faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The Foundation awards more than $20,000 in prize money to winners.

See the full story about this year’s results.

Individual Award Winners:

With articles in National Geographic Traveler, Bon Appétit, Islands, Afar and other magazines, actor-writer Andrew McCarthy took the top individual honors as 2010 Travel Journalist of the Year in the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition.

The Washington Post asked 2010 Travel Journalist of the Year:
"If you could win only one award in your lifetime, which one would it be: an Emmy, Oscar, Razzie or Lowell Thomas?"
Andrew McCarthy:
'I'll take them all.' (Read the entire story...CLICK HERE)

“Word by word, paragraph by paragraph, entry by entry, McCarthy earns the gold the old-fashioned way — by treating readers to excellent writing and poignant stories,” said the judge. McCarthy’s subjects were wide ranging, from a wilderness trip that turned deadly to a search for the best soda bread recipe in Ireland.

Silver winner in the Grand Award category is Catharine Hamm, travel editor of the Los Angeles Times, who also takes bronze in investigative reporting. The bronze in Grand Award goes to Gary Stoller, a reporter at USA Today who also wins gold for investigative reporting on airline maintenance failures.

In Special Packages/Projects, which recognizes in-depth coverage of a topic and emphasizes use of multiple, interactive media, the gold goes to Jill Schensul for “Namibia” in The Record and northjersey.com of Hackensack, N.J.

Rick Steves earns top honors for the best travel book with “Travel as a Political Act,” in which he shares experiences of more than 30 years exploring the world. Ben Mutzabaugh wins gold for the best travel blog, Today in the Sky, at USAToday.com.


Check out the complete list of winners:

What the Judges Said:

The competition, for work from spring 2009 to spring 2010, drew 1,161 entries. Faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication did judging.

“The entries were a breath of fresh air,” said Winston Cavin, coordinating judge at the university. “Unfazed by the economy, writers focused on budget-conscious family ideas along with the traditional fare of glitz and faraway places. Travel journalists became twice as productive, twice as clever, and their work as enjoyable as ever."

Afar, winner of the gold award as best travel magazine, is based in San Francisco and debuted in the summer of 2009. The magazine “presents a stunning mix of standing features (travel with a purpose, unusual places to stay) and stories on truly different topics (bog snorkeling in Wales?) from all over the world,” said the judge.

And for BudgetTravel.com, the top winner in online travel journalism sites, the judge said: “Amid a wide variety of travel sites, Budget Travel stands out for its quality of information, layout, design and navigation and its community.”

See the judges’ comments about all winners.

The Prizes for Winners:

The total prize money for individual winners this year was $20,600. The Grand Award earns the gold winner $1,500, the silver winner $750 and the bronze place $500. In individual categories, first-place gold winners each receive $500. Silver and bronze winners receive $250 and $150. The categories for Best Newspaper Travel Sections, Best Magazines, Best Online Travel Journalism Sites and Best Travel Packages/Projects are not given monetary awards.

The 2010 Travel Journalist of the Year receives an engraved crystal award. The other two Grand Award honors and all other gold winners are given engraved plaques, while silver and bronze honorees receive certificates mounted on plaques.

The awards are named for Lowell Thomas, acclaimed broadcast journalist, prolific author and world explorer during five decades in travel journalism.