The Riesling bottle is empty (there was no champagne lying around). But wide smiles are still splitting our faces.
We recently learned that our Sand In My Suitcase blog won Silver for “Best Independent Travel Blog” in the 2015 North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) annual awards competition.
Do we care that this best travel blog honor isn’t gold?
This isn’t like acting – where you audition, make the cut as one of the top two candidates for the starring role, then the director makes the final decision and it isn’t you, so you go back to waiting on tables.
No, this competition, now in its 24th year, honors the “best of the best” in travel journalism. It’s kind of like the Oscars (or the Golden Globes?) – but for travel writing. We’re in the company of top writers, also honored, who contribute to The New York Times, BBC Travel, National Geographic Traveler, Yahoo Travel and Travel + Leisure.
So you can understand why we’re super EXCITED!
Best Travel Blog (Silver)? Wow! We’re in the company of great blogs
We’ve won several awards for our travel articles published in magazines and newspapers before – forgive the plug :-). But this is the first time we’ve won a best travel blog honor.
We’re especially thrilled because the other travel blogs which snagged best travel blog awards this year are such awesome blogs, and we’re so happy to be honored along with them. Sincere congrats to:
- The Planet D – Gold
- My Itchy Travel Feet – Bronze
- Legal Nomads – Finalist
- The Vacation Gals – Finalist
- Xpat Matt – Finalist
We lucked out with our magazine writing too this year.
We won a Silver award for our travel feature on the fairytale Mexican town of “San Miguel de Allende” and a Finalist award for “The Temple Whisperer” (links to the magazine articles are highlighted at the end of these blog posts).
Congrats to all the other award winners
We also want to give a warm shout-out to just some of the other award winners whose writing we love:
- Carolyn Ali – Finalist, Best Travel Column (less than 250,000 circulation) for “Living the fast-car dream on the Sea-to-Sky,” Georgia Straight
- Jenn Smith Nelson – Bronze, Illustrated Magazine Story for “Unplugged prairie escape in Saskatchewan,” Just For Canadian Doctors
- Mary Ann Treger – Bronze, Luxury Travel Article for “Mountain majesty: Blackberry Farm,” Style magazine
- Lucas Aykroyd – Finalist, Destination Travel International Magazine for “North of 60 in Nunavut,” Just for Canadian Dentists
- Mindy Poder – Gold, Special Focus Article for “India, like a Beatle,” TravelAge West
- Irene Levine – Finalist, Destination Travel Domestic Newspaper for “Lyon harbors the best of French cuisine,” The Chicago Tribune
- Debbra Brouillette – Finalist, Cruise Article for “Stow away,” The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
- Katherine Belarmino – Gold, Travel Series Online for “Swedish Lapland Travel Series,” The Travel World
Here’s the complete list of NATJA 2015 award winners.
And we’re tickled to see that one of the magazines we regularly contribute to – TravelAgeWest.com – won Gold for “Best Travel Journalism Website” in this most recent NATJA awards competition.
Thank you for reading our travel blog
Finally, BIG thanks to you – our readers – for following our travels. We love exploring different countries and places, trying novel experiences (like snorkeling in a Mexican cenote!), meeting new people along the way – and sharing our travel tales with you. It’s our passion, and we’re so glad to be doing this.
You can see how celebrating these awards is also a lot like the Oscars, what with all the thank-you’s :-).
We’re Janice and George Mucalov, professional award-winning travel writers, sharing tales of luxury travel with a twist of adventure.
Congratulations!! I love reading your blog and I’m not at all surprised that you won, keep up the good work!
Thanks so much for the support and congrats.
This is such a great achievement, Janice! I truly think your blog deserves this recognition. It’s always a pleasure reading through it and finding new and exciting travel destinations for my future plans. Hope to meet you on the road, somewhere. one of these days. Perhaps in Oxnard, in April?
Thanks so much for the kind congrats! We’d love to meet you too some day :-). Oxnard looks like a great event, but not sure we’ll be able to go… (Still thinking.)
Wow, congratulations! That is one great achievement.
Congratulations, Janice and George. Well deserved.
Thanks so much taking the time to congratulate us – very nice :-).
Congratulations to you both on this award! I’ve enjoyed reading your blog and look forward to more. I also second Debbra’s comment above – I truly appreciate your comments, shares, and support of your fellow writers/bloggers. Very inspiring and great to see. Congrats again!!
You’re making us blush! Thank you so much for your congrats :-).
Congrats Janice and George!
Thanks so much for the congrats – the support from fellow writers and bloggers is really appreciated :-).
Congrats Janice and George! Your work totally deserved this award and many more to come in future!
Many thanks for your congrats :-).
Congratulations, you deserve it !!!
Thanks so much! Really appreciated!
Congrats, Janice and George! I’ve told you many times how much I love your website/blog. Not only is the content and photography always first-rate, but Sand in My Suitcase is just the perfect name (especially to someone like me who writes about tropical travel)! Thanks, too, for the “warm shout-out” re: my Finalist award in this year’s competition, and for your overall support of fellow writers.
Thank you Debbra! We look forward to reading more of your tropical tales – we could do with one now to keep us warm :-).
Congratulations! I love reading your very inspiring, informative and creative blog! What a lovely and generous post—a small reflection of two great bloggers!
Oh, you are too sweet :-). This means a lot coming from you!