The winners of The Visit USA Association Media Awards were revealed last night at an awards ceremony attended by a crowd of journalists and USA travel industry experts. These prestigious awards honour travel journalists and media outlets for their outstanding contribution to USA media coverage over the last 12 months.
We’ll be featuring the winning stories on our blog over the coming weeks - in the meantime, here’s the full list of the 10 winners and the winner of the Highly Commended Award.
General Consumer Magazine Feature
Jonathan Thompson 'The New Pioneers' for Tatler
Consumer Travel Magazine Feature
Alex Allen 'Roads to Recovery' for The Sunday Times Travel Magazine
Travel Trade Press Feature
Ella Buchan 'Red delight' for Aspire
Regional Newspaper Feature
Carl Jackson Winner, 'Canyon Country - Monumental Memories' for Reach PLC
Ashwin Bhardwaj – Highly Commended 'The Cuban Connection' for City AM
Broadcast Programme (TV, Radio or Internet)
James Martin 'James Martin’s American Adventures' for ITV
Photographic Travel Feature
Oliver Hellowell Smoky Mountains assignment for DownsSyndromeAssoUK
Online Feature
Karlina Valeiko 'Northern Wyoming road trip: the top things to do, where to stay & what to eat' for loveEXPLORING
National Newspaper Feature
Nigel Richardson ‘I wept because I felt the bullets; I heard the cries’ for The Sunday Telegraph
Blogger/Vlogger of the Year
Abigail King 'Fly drive Florida – a two week itinerary & adventure' for Inside The Travel Lab
Contribution to the Industry
Mary Moore Mason for Essentially America
Mary Moore Mason was handed the Visit USA Association’s coveted Contribution to the Industry Award for her commitment to the USA travel industry as Editorial Director of Essentially America. The glossy travel magazine is celebrating its 25th Anniversary and 100th Edition in 2019.
The Visit USA Association Travel Media Awards were created 19 years ago to recognise and thank the media for their contribution to the promotion of the USA through their work. Entries and nominations are invited from journalists, publications and PRs and are judged on three main criteria:
1 The quality and factual accuracy of the writing
2 Whether the feature actually makes readers want to pack their bags and visit
3 Whether the feature gives clear information on which of the Association’s 200+ members can provide further assistance