Winning Travel Writers take readers from Bournemouth to Bangkok, Baghdad, and Back

12 November 2004

Travel writer Paul Mansfield scooped two awards - including a new accolade for a major contribution to consumer travel journalism - at the British Guild of Travel Writers' (BGTW) prestigious 2004 Members Awards.

Bournemouth, Baghdad, Bangkok, Zambia's Bangweulu Swamps, a 3,000-mile rail journey from Moscow to Irkutsk and the Pembrokeshire coast were among the diverse destinations featured in the winning travel articles.

Each year the BGTW presents awards for articles written by members and selected anonymously by an independent panel of judges.

Paul Mansfield, who contributes to national newspapers including the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Times, Evening Standard and The Express, won the new AA/BGTW Travel Writer of the Year Award for a Major Contribution to Consumer Travel Writing, based on a body of work. In addition to a £2,000 prize, the award also included a writing commission from the AA. The judges said "We were entertained - and informed - by this writer's authoritative and well researched new take on old favourites that have dropped below the travel horizon." The runner-up, with a prize of £1000, was Geoff Hill of The Newsletter, Belfast. Paul Mansfield also won the award for the Best UK Feature over 850 words, sponsored by the Wales Tourist Board, for an article on Bournemouth in the Sunday Telegraph.

The winners of the other awards were:

• Best Destination Feature under 850 words, sponsored by Superbreak Mini-Holidays - Rebecca Ford, Pembrokeshire.
• Best European Feature over 850 words, sponsored by Oman Tourism - Perrott Phillips, Malaga, Bolton Evening News
• Best Overseas Feature over 850 words, sponsored by Macau Government Tourist Office - Stephanie Debere, Zambia, Independent on Sunday
• Best Trade Feature, sponsored by Philadelphia Visitors and Convention Bureau - Sue Bryant, in flight medical emergencies, Business Traveller
• Kenneth Westcott Jones Memorial Award for Best Transport Feature, sponsored by Virgin Trains - Jeremy Head, Trans-Siberian rail journey, The Times
• Best Guide Book Award, sponsored by First PR - Lawrence Phillips, Lille, The Bradt Mini Guide
• Best Narrative Travel Book, sponsored by KBC Public Relations and Marketing Ltd - Andrew Eames, The 8.55 to Baghdad, Bantam Press
• The Ed Lacy Memorial Award for Best Radio Feature, sponsored by the Gibraltar Tourist Board - Mary Johns, Soweto, BBC Hereford & Worcester
• Best Television Feature of the Year, sponsored by Holiday Autos - Petra Shepherd, Oman, Travel Channel
• Photograph of the Year, sponsored by Jersey Tourism - Juliet Coombe, Venice

The winners were announced at the BGTW's annual gala dinner held at the Savoy Hotel in London on the eve of the global trade tourism event, World Travel Market.

ENDS

Note to Editor: Founded in 1960, the British Guild of Travel Writers is an association of over 230 professional writers, editors, photographers, producers, radio and television presenters involved in the world of travel.

For further information contact:
Jeannine Williamson
Motcombe Media
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