BATW BEST 2010 Writing and Photography Awards

Category 1 – Magazine Articles

Judges: Larry Bleiberg and Al Bonowitz

GOLD
Bill Fink
“Magic Realism Realized in Cartegena”
San Francisco Chronicle Magazine

SILVER
Bill Fink
“Travel Tales — Battle for a Bus Seat”
Islands magazine

BRONZE: Lee Foster
“Let’s Go to the Movies: California as a Movie Backdrop”
Rand McNally 2009 California Travel Atlas

Honorable Mention: Diane M.Covington
“Finding Gilbert”
Reader’s Digest

Category 2 – Best Newspaper Article

Judges: Donald George and John Flinn

GOLD: Bill Fink
“Across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railroad”
San Francisco Chronicle

SILVER: David T. Page
“Both Paradise and Safe Haven”
New York Times

BRONZE: Erin Van Rheenen
“Escape to a Tropical Alcatraz”
Los Angeles Times

Honorable Mention: Hank Mattimore
“The Gentle People, Visiting with the Tarahumara Indians”
Daily Republic

Category 3: Travel-Related Essay/Article in an Anthology

Judges: Sean O’Reilly and Bob Jenkins

GOLD: TIE
Natalie Galli
“Risen”, The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2009, Travelers’ Tales
AND
David Laws
“The Setting for Stories”, Steinbeck Review, Spring 2009, Wiley-Blackwell

SILVER: TIE
Ken Matusow
“The Long Red Road”, The Best Travel Writing 2009, Travelers’ Tales
AND
April Orcutt
“On the Lam on the Long Road to Lhasa”, Flightless: Incredible Journeys Without Leaving the Ground, Lonely Planet

BRONZE: Ken Matusow
“Grandpere”, Dreams and Inward Journeys, Longman

Honorable Mention:
Laurie McAndish King
“Big Cats”, The Best Womens’ Travel Writing 2009 and
“Sheela na Gig”, Venturing in Ireland: Quest for the Modern Celtic Soul, Travelers’ Tales

Category 4 – Best Text/Photo Combo articles

Judges: Donald George end John Flinn

GOLD: Ginger Dingus
“Riverboat Rambler”
New York Daily News

SILVER: Lee Foster
“San Luis Obispo, a Wine Lover’s Delight”
Distinctly Northwest magazine

BRONZE: Lee Daley
“Pozos, Artists Breathe New Life in to Old Mining Town”
Epicurean Traveler

Honorable Mention: Diane M. Covington
“Voila, Black Gold, on the Trial of Truffles in the Dordogne Region of France”
Ventana magazine

Category 5 – Internet Travel Article

Judges: Jim Benning and Nelson Alcantara

GOLD: Robert W. Bone
“Vietnam, 40 Years Later”, JPGMag.com

SILVER: Renata Polt
“Whistler, Before the Olympics”, culturevulture.net

BRONZE: Diane LeBow
“A Visit to Palau”, creators.com

Category 6 – Travel Guide Books

Judges: Ken Smith and Georgia Hesse

GOLD: David T. Page
Yosemite & Southern Sierra Nevada Travel Guide, Countryman Press

SILVER: Karen Misuraca
Backroads of the California Coast, Voyageur Press

BRONZE: Robert Stone
Day Hikes around Napa Valley, Day Hike Books

Category 8 – Writers’ Web sites

Judges: Jim Benning and Sean O’Reilly

GOLD: Patricia Arrigoni
www.travelpublishers.com

SILVER: David Page
www.sierrasurvey.com

BRONZE: Stephanie Levin
www.steffelevin.com

Honorable Mention: Lee Foster
www.LeeFoster.com

Honorable Mention: Carole Terwilliger Meyers
www.caroletmeyers.com

Honorable Mention: Diane Covington
www.dianecovington.com

Photography Winners

Category 9—Newspaper or Magazine Travel Photograph

Judges: Robert Holmes and Glen Steiner

GOLD
Zip Line, Honduras Island Hopping
John Montgomery
News-Herald, Southgate, MI

SILVER
Elephant Butte, Monument Valley
Janet and Stuart Wilson
RV Journal Magazine

BRONZE
Man on Log at Rialto Beach, Washington
Lee Foster
AARP The Magazine

Category 10—Internet Travel Photograph

GOLD
Irrawaddy Life
Laurie Weed
Verge Magazine

SILVER
Tienda Talk
Lee Daley
Epicurean Traveler

BRONZE
Kenya Thorn Tree
Lee Foster
National Geographic Traveler Magazine

Planet Earth 2010

“Travel writing that helps to sustain or enhance the unique and valuable character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and/or the well-being of its residents.”

Best Travel Article or Essay for Planet Earth

Judges: Louis D’Amore and Bruce Anderson

GOLD
“Global Warming’s Poster Child”, Houston Chronicle
David G. Houser

SILVER
“Big Cats, No Guns”
Best Women’s Travel Writing 2009, Travelers’ Tales
Laurie McAndish King

BRONZE
“Icemen Cometh”, Discover magazine
Douglas Fox

Best Travel Book for Planet Earth

Judges: Dr. Gail Lash and Brad Newsham

GOLD
Sacred Places North America: 108 Destinations
CCC Publishing
Brad Olsen

SILVER
Yosemite & The Southern Sierra Nevada: A Complete Guide, Including Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Death Valley & Mammoth Lakes
Countryman Press
David T. Page

BRONZE
Nomad’s Hotel: Travels in Time and Space
Mariner Books
Cees Nooteboom

- – - – - – - – - -

See all the winning photographs under “Members News” on this website.

San Franccisco Bay Area Travel Writers and Photographers

our small blue planet Earth

At last the suspense will be over as BATW unveils the winners of 2010 BATW Travel Writing & Photography Awards and 2010 Planet Earth Awards.

Karen Misuraca says:

Don’t Miss the February Awards Program at Book Passage

The February 20 meeting (at Book Passage in Corte Madera) will be our presentation ceremonies for 2010 BATW Best Writing & Photography awards, 2010 Planet Earth awards, and Rebecca Bruns award. Guests are welcome, coffee, tea and cookies will be served at 9:30 a.m., and the many winners and their prizes will be announced.

There is no limit to the number of guests, but please RSVP online. Click for directions to Book Passage (you can get there by bus).

Click here to get to Google Maps.

When the date gets closer, please RSVP online via www.batw.org.

Book Passage bookstore

If you have not already sent in your entries, please do so NOW!

Thank you,
Karen Misuraca
Contest Chairperson
kmworld@vom.com

New Deadline: Sept. 15

BATW Best 2010

Planet Earth 2010

Submit your best works, as published over the last two years. Judges will include print and online editors from around the country; cash prizes and/or travel packages will be awarded. For complete information and rules: www.batw.org/news/batw-news/2010-contest-rules/

Why Enter BATW Best 2010?

1. To become an award-winning writer/photographer

2. Showcase your work to prominent editors/judges

3. As a winner, get promoted nationwide to newspaper and magazine editors

4. Support your professional organization

5. As a winner, have your work showcased on the BATW Web site

6. PRIZES!

Cash prizes for Planet Earth and lots of valuable prizes for BATW Best, including Greater Bay Area lodgings, tours, attractions and restaurants:

* 2 nights at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country in Santa Rosa

* 2 nights and brunch at the Palace Hotel

* overnight at a Wine Country B&B with a cooking class

* tickets to Teatro ZinZanni

* tickets to A.C.T. performances

* two nights at Joie de Vivre’s Hotel Carlton

* overnight and dinner at the Westin St. Francis

* houseboat vacation valued at $1,150

* tickets for 4 to the di Rosa Preserve in the Napa Valley

and more

A stellar slate of judges is being assembled by Ellen Sarbone, to include these and others:

Al Bonowitz, Features Editor, Westways/Hawaii Westways

John Flinn, former Travel Editor, San Francisco Chronicle

Sean O’Reilly, Editor-at-Large, Travelers’ Tales

Don George, Editor, RECCE: Literary Journeys for the Discerning Traveler; former Travel Editor, Salon Wanderlust; former Travel Editor, San Francisco Examiner/Chronicle

Nelson Alcantara, Editor, eTurbo News

Georgia Hesse, travel writer, author; former Travel Editor of the San Francisco Examiner/Chronicle

Brad Newsham, author, travel writer

Tom Graves, professional photographer

Nelson Alcantara, professional photographer

Sandie Wernick, Wernick Marketing Group

Laurie Armstrong, SFCVB

Gail Lash, Founder/Executive Director of Tourism For Peace

Louis D’Amore, Founder/President of the International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT)

Heidi Zuhl, Graham & Associates

BATW Best Awards are for BATW members only.  Planet Earth Awards are open to all writers.

Remember: The new deadline is September 15, 2009.

Enter the Planet Earth Travel Writing Awards competition, deadline Sept. 15

The Planet Earth Travel Writing Awards support:
“Travel writing that helps to sustain or enhance the unique and valuable character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and/or the well-being of its residents.”

Submit your book(s), articles and essays that relate to this theme.

This competition is open to all journalists, writers and authors, so please do let your writing organizations and groups know about it — thanks.

Contest rules: http://www.batw.org/contests/planetearth2010/

Travel writing that helps to sustain or enhance the unique and valuable character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and/or the well-being of its residents.

Categories:
Best Travel Article or Essay for Planet Earth
Best Travel Book for Planet Earth

Deadline: September 1, 2009
Prizes: $200 Gold, $100 Silver and $50 Bronze in each category
Contest rules and information: http://www.batw.org/contests/planetearth2010/

Travel Writers Can Change the World: Planet Earth 2010

Sustainable travel — eco-travel — green travel — cultural travel . . . what does all this mean? The current trend of travel experiences that enrich and fulfill the traveler while contributing to the welfare of a place and its inhabitants presents a grand opportunity for us as writers.

By choosing to focus at least some of our work on such topics as philanthropic travel opportunities; resorts, hotels and tour companies that operate sustainably; travel with a purpose; responsible tourism; and/or “cultural sojourns” (as described in the New York Times 2009 summer travel magazine), we become part of a new millennium crusade to appreciate and to save the planet and its inhabitants.

As Bradley Weiss wrote in “The Untold Travel Story: A Travel Writer’s Guide to Sustainable Tourism and Destination Stewardship” for National Geographic magazine, “The tourism industry does not merely make use of the destinations on which it depends, it interacts with them. It can sustain them. It can ruin them. Sometimes, it can save them. If carefully managed, tourism can alleviate poverty and provide an incentive for wildlife conservation, historic preservation and cultural enrichment.”

Travel writers can influence millions of people to look at their vacations, their travel-related activities, and even the sustainability of their hometowns and states, in new ways.

Believing in the power of its growing and influential membership, and that of travel writers around the world, BATW is again sponsoring an international writing competition — Planet Earth 2010 — that is open to all journalists and authors. The focus of the competition:

“Travel writing that helps to sustain or enhance the unique and valuable character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and/or the well-being of its residents.”

Do check out the contest rules for Planet Earth 2010 at http://www.batw.org/contests/planetearth2010/. You can help by letting your writers’ organizations know about the competition. And, don’t miss this chance to be an award-winning (and prize winning!) travel writer who has answered the question, “What can I do?”

– Karen Misuraca

our small blue planet, Earth

BAY AREA

TRAVEL WRITERS

PLANET EARTH

TRAVEL WRITING

AWARDS 2010

Best Travel Book for Planet Earth

Best Travel Article or Essay for Planet Earth

“Travel writing that helps to sustain or enhance the unique and valuable character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and/or the well-being of its residents.”

NEW DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 15, 2009

Contest Rules/Preparation of Entries

Contest rules are at http://www.batw.org/contests/planetearth2010/

Who is Eligible to Enter? open to all writers, journalists and authors.

Publication Dates: magazine, newspaper and Web site articles and essays and travel books must have been published between July 1, 2007 and July 1, 2009.

Deadline: submissions will be accepted between August 1 and September 1, 2009 only. Entries must be postmarked no later than September 1, 2009.

Entry Fees: A fee of $15 per individual entry for BATW members is required. The fee per individual entry for non-members is $30. Make your check for the total of your entries payable to BATW. Entry fees may be tax-deductible; check with your tax advisor.

You may submit up to two entries in each category. The fee of $15 or $30 applies to each individual entry.

Material that is not eligible: advertorials, work produced under contract for commercial promotion, articles published on your own Web site, blog or newsletter

Prizes! Gold, Silver and Bronze winners in each category will be awarded on February 20, 2010 ($200 Gold, $100 Silver, $50 Bronze prizes). Winners will be notified, and will receive awards certificates suitable for framing. News releases will be sent to San Francisco Bay Area and national media and may be posted on www.BATW.org. (An individual winning the top award in a category three competitions in a row is retired from that category for two competitions.)

Categories

* Best Travel Book for Planet Earth

* Best Travel Article/Essay for Planet Earth

PREPARATION OF ENTRIES: A cover sheet (see below), entry fees and 2 copies of published materials for each entry are required.

No books, articles or other materials will be returned; those that are improperly prepared, and/or do not include all required elements will not be accepted and will not be returned. You may submit up to two entries in each category. Submission packages must be accompanied by the required entry fees, and they must be postmarked by the deadline.

Materials: for each entry, submit 2 copies of original clippings, tear sheets or photocopies, or printouts from Web sites, or two copies of books (to be seen by two judges in each category). Prepare your materials so that they can be easily read by judges.

Each entry should show the name and date of publication, the headline, with your byline blinded. Any mention of your name must be blinded. Take care to remove or cover your name, wherever it appears. Include URLs for any online publications.  Photography will not be considered in evaluating entries.

Code Number: give yourself one 4-digit code number to use on all entries; print that number clearly on each entry. Also, print the category name on each entry.

Your Contact Information/Cover Sheet: in each entry package, include a cover sheet with the following information:

4-digit code number

Name, Mailing Address. Phone Number. E-mail address

List of entries, including for each entry the category name and the category number, the title or headline of your entry, the name of the publication and date of publication. (Judges do not see your cover sheet)

Mailing: in your entry package, enclose your published materials, your cover sheet and a check or money order payable to BATW for the total amount for all entries. If you need confirmation that your entry has been delivered, please mail or ship it in a manner that provides such confirmation.

Mail to:

Stephanie Levin
BATW Planet Earth Awards 2010
1368 Sanchez Street
San Francisco, CA 94131

Questions? After reading the Contest Rules at http://www.batw.org/contests/planetearth2010/, if you have questions, contact the coordinator, Karen Misuraca, at kmworld@vom.com.

– Karen Misuraca

Judges: Beth Parke, Executive Director, Society of Environmental Journalists

Gail Lash, Executive Director, Tourism for Peace (tourismforpeace.org)

Best Travel Article/Essay for Planet Earth

• Gold Award: Of Lemurs and Leeches, by Laurie McAndish King (San Francisco Chronicle Magazine)
• Silver Award: Vietnam: Beautiful Contrasts Amid Controlled Chaos, by Bob Bone (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
• Bronze Award: Another Hawaii, by JoAnn Roe (Skyward)
• Honorable Mention: To Understand the World, You Really Have to See It, by Sophia Dembling (Chicago Tribune)

Best Travel Book for Planet Earth

• Gold Award: Greece: A Love Story: Women Write about the Greek Experience, edited by Camille Cusamano
• 
  

Rebecca Bruns Award

Presented yearly to a BATW member who exemplifies the character and essence as well as the achievements of Rebecca Bruns, a gifted and generous writer whose life and work inspired many.

• Bruce Whipperman