Each year, the British Guild of Travel Writers organises two prestigious awards schemes: the BGTW International Tourism Awards and the BGTW Members’ Excellence Awards. The winners are announced at our Annual Gala Awards Dinner held on the eve of World Travel Market each year.
About the BGTW Awards
BGTW International Tourism Awards
Launched over 40 years ago, the BGTW International Tourism Awards scheme recognises excellence in tourism projects.
There are four categories (a single asterisk denotes a new category for 2024):
- Best UK and Ireland Tourism Project
- Best Europe Tourism Project
- Best Wider World Tourism Project
- Better World Project* – for Sustainability, Conservation and Cultural Preservation
BGTW Members’ Excellence Awards
There are 17 Members’ Excellence Awards categories, 5 portfolio categories and 12 for individual pieces of work. (Those marked a single asterisk are new for 2024 and a double asterisk denotes a changed award.)
The portfolio categories:
- BGTW Photographer of the Year
- BGTW Travel Blogger of the Year
- BGTW Travel Broadcaster of the Year
- BGTW Travel Writer of the Year
- Rising Talent Award*
The individual categories:
- Inclusivity Award*
- Journey Feature of the Year**
- Specialist Travel Feature of the Year
- Sustainability Feature of the Year
- Travel Blog Post of the Year
- Travel Broadcast of the Year
- Travel Feature of the Year – Europe
- Travel Feature of the Year – UK
- Travel Feature of the Year – Worldwide
- Travel Guidebook of the Year
- Travel Photo Feature of the Year
- Travel Trade Feature of the Year**
If you or your brand would like to support us and gain brand visibility, then we offer a range of sponsorship packages connected to these awards and the Gala Dinner. Interested? Please contact Renate Ruge for more details.
Previous Award Winners (2018-2025)
Note that the names of some awards have changed over the years and that in some years, the award wasn’t presented. There were no awards in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Records before 2018 are kept in the BGTW’s archives at Surrey University.
BGTW Members’ Excellence Awards
Travel Feature of the Year – UK
2018 Ben Lerwill
2019 James Stewart
2020 Nigel Tisdall
2022 Lorna Parkes
2023 Simon Parker – The new 100-mile hiking route set to bring thousands to the Shetland Islands2
2024 Mike Unwin – Scilly Season, Saga Magazine
2025 Adrian Phillips – I took my entire family on a canal boat holiday – and found the antidote to our hurried age
Travel Feature of the Year – Europe
2018 Ben Lerwill
2019 Adrian Phillips
2020 Adrian Phillips (combined with Wider World)
2022 James Stewart
2023 Adrian Phillips – National Geographic Traveller, November 2022
2024 Sarah Rodrigues – Small Talk, Wizz Air Magazine
2025 Daniel Stables – In the Valley of Thor
Travel Feature of the Year – Wider World
2018 Adrian Phillips
2019 Jon Holmes
2023 Jessica Vincent – Hiking the Newly Restored Trans Bhutan Trail is the Best Way to Experience the Country
2024 William Gray – Into the Forest of Eden, Wanderlust, August 2023
2025 Dom Tulett – Breaking Barriers In Botswana: The Trip That Helped My Dyslexic Daughter Overcome Her Writing Fears
Travel Feature of the Year – regional, specialist and trade media
2019 Mike Unwin (Short read)
2020 Meera Dattani
2022 Ben Lerwill
2023 Ben Lerwill – The Joy of the Search: In Search of Otters on Islay (Hidden Scotland Magazine, Spring 2023
2024 Lisa Kjellsson – Shinta Mani Mustang, Sleeper Magazine, January 2024
2025 From 2025, this award was split into two categories, as follows:
Travel Feature of the Year – Travel Trade Media
2025 Domhnall O’Donoghue – An LGBTQ+ Guide to Portland – Travel Weekly
Travel Feature of the Year – UK Regional Media
2025 Robin McKelvie – Among the ghosts of the Hebrides
Sustainability Feature of the Year
2023 Penny Watson – Let there be light (Fireflies at Banyan Tree Escape)
2024 Ben Lerwill – A New Horizon, National Geographic, September 2023
2025 Becki Enright – 8 ways to be a responsible tourist in Vienna
Specialist Travel Feature of the Year (The Bryn Frank Award)
2020 Sue Watt
2022 Jessica Vincent
2023 Ben Lerwill – Six of the world’s most thrilling city safaris
2024 Richard Collett – Tskaltubo: The rebirth of Georgia’s derelict Soviet spa town
2025 Mike Unwin – Eternal Fascination – Travel Africa Magazine 105
Celebrating Diversity Through Storytelling
2024 Tracey Croke – Silicone boobs, queer history and Sydney’s best LGBTQIA+ bars with Kiama Blowhole
2025 Shebs Alom – Inside the $300 Billion Halal Tourism Boom: What Travel Brands Need to Know!
Journey Feature of the Year
(Formerly: Transport Feature of the Year – The Kenneth Westcott-Jones Award)
2018 Tristan Rutherford
2019 Emma Thomson
2020 James Stewart
2022 Sue Watt
2023 Simon Urwin – The Hamilton Road: A highway to a Kurdish paradise
2024 Simon Parker – 11 states, 4,000 miles: the solo cycling trip that taught me about America
2025 Jessica Vincent – Find the ancient heart of America on a road trip through the Indigenous Southwest
Travel Guidebook of the Year
2018 James Lowen
2019 Hilary Bradt
2022 James Rushforth
2023 Caroline Mills – Camping Road Trips UK (Bradt Guides)
2024 Lucy Dodsworth – Auld and New in Edinburgh
2025 Daniel James Clarke – Pocket Algarve – Lonely Planet
Travel Narrative Book of the Year – The Adele Evans Award
2018 Brian Jackman
2020 Emma John
2022 Tharik Hussain
2023 Mary Novakovich – My Family and Other Enemies: Life and Travels in Croatia’s Hinterland
2024 N/A
2025 Shafik Meghji – Small Earthquakes: A Journey Through Lost British History in South America
Travel Photo Feature of the Year
2020 Simon Urwin
2022 Simon Urwin
2023 Rudolf Abraham – The jaw-dropping and the sublime (JRNY, March 2023)
2024 Karolina Wiercigroch – A Vine Art – published in the June/July 2024 issue of Food & Travel
2025 Karolina Wiercigroch – City Life: Cartagena – National Geographic Traveller UK
Travel Blog Post of the Year
2020 Bella Falk
2022 Paul Healy
2023 Bella Falk – A Surprise Review Of Eagles Nest Yoga Retreat in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
2024 Abi King – Have we got it wrong about marking historical milestones?
2025 Claire Martin – Not flying is best for the environment. But the cost of not visiting could be greater.
Travel Broadcast of the Year
2020 Cassam Looch
2022 Ash Bharwaj
2023 Jonathan Thompson – Adventure Cities Season One, Episode 4: Amman + Charleston (Discovery Channel)
2024 Aaron Millar – Podcast: Utah Life Elevated
2025 Alex Outhwaite – So You Think You Know: Belize
BGTW Travel Blogger of the Year
2018 Kirstie Pelling
2019 Kirstie Pelling
2020 Richard Collett
2022 Paul Healy
2023 Bella Falk – Passport & Pixels
2024 Richard Collett – Travel Tramp
2025 Victoria Watts Kennedy – Bridges and Balloons
BGTW Travel Broadcaster of the Year
2019 Adrian Phillips
2020 Aaron Millar
2022 Simon Parker
2023 Aaron Millar
2024 Jonathan Thompson
2025 Simon Willmore
BGTW Photographer of the Year
2018 James Rushforth
2019 James Rushforth
2020 James Rushforth
2022 James Rushforth
2023 James Rushforth
2024 James Rushforth
2025 Jeremy Flint
BGTW Travel Writer of the Year
2018 Adrian Phillips
2019 Emma Thomson
2020 James Stewart
2022 Emma Thomson
2023 Adrian Phillips
2024 Kassondra Cloos
2025 Claire Boobbyer
