2019-20 SATW Foundation Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition
114 Personal Comment ( Newspapers,Travel Magazines,Travel Coverage in General Magazines,Travel Audio-Radio,Travel Audio-Podcasts and Guides)Back
Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Outside Entry Title: I Was Flying to Montana to Bury My Son Entry Credit: Mark Sundeen Judge Comment: Mark Sundeen transports readers on a journey of grief for the death of his newborn son, love of the land, and hope for the birth of a second son. One feels the heaviness as he says, “…I would lay my baby boy in a hole and cover him with soil.” He shares the “topography of his life” with his description of carved sandstone, juniper slopes and flat green ranches. The reader feels hopelessness and sadness until he reveals that his wife is now six months pregnant with his second son. His writing makes me want to read a sequel to see if he gets the chance to share his love of Montana’s nature with another son.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Diane Covington-Carter Entry Title: Departure Points: Dad's Stories Resonated Entry Credit: Diane Covington-Carter Judge Comment: A daughter’s devotion to her father’s more-than-50-year-old memory of an orphan he met in France shows that love makes anything possible. Diane Covington-Carter tracks down Gilbert with nothing more than his first name to meet the boy (now a man) her father wanted to adopt during war in Normandy. “When I told him, my father had never forgotten him, he wept.” The fact that she “adopts him and his family” as her own brings her father’s story full circle. She manages to comfort his widow as Gilbert comes to the end of his life too.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Fodor's Travel Entry Title: I Traveled to Brazil With Author Elizabeth Wurtzel. Here’s Everything She Taught Me. Entry Credit: La Carmina Judge Comment: There’s nothing like a girls’ trip especially when it’s the last one with a friend. Writer La Carmina and her love for author and friend Elizabeth Wurtzel, taken by cancer, propels this adventure the two share in Brazil. La Carmina tells readers that Wurtzel was “…constantly late, but always had time for friends in need. Her long-winded conversations provoked and frustrated, yet left behind seeds that made you rethink everything.” How the writer makes readers want to travel while she reveals her grief is a testament to her talent.
Place Name: Honorable Mention Contestant Name: Steve Macone Entry Title: Ice Fishing Is Fun! Entry Credit: Steve Macone Judge Comment: Steve Macone’s writing transports you to a cozy shack on Silver Lake in New Hampshire. You can feel the chill in your bones, smell the stickiness of his catch and taste whatever hot cocktail his fishing companions shake up. His story not only informs readers of this winter sport but he keeps things light with his witty humor.
