May 6th, 2025 – The Guild’s two awards schemes are now open, so it’s time for you to consider entering your best work into the BGTW Members’ Excellence Awards, and nominating tourism projects for the BGTW International Tourism Awards.
If you’ve entered or nominated (or both!) before then you’ll be familiar with the drill. But for new members, and to remind everyone just what this is all about, here’s a quick-ish summary.
Members’ Excellence Awards – the MEA
This year there are a total of 18 awards covering writing, blogging, broadcasting and photography. 14 of those awards are for individual pieces of work, with the other four reflecting a member’s wider skill set through a portfolio of four submissions.
You take a close look at all the categories, decide which of those reflect the specific elements of travel media that you’re engaged in, read the entry criteria (carefully!), and submit your entry, or entries.
If you’ve entered before then you’ll recognise most of the award categories. But this year we have two additional categories to whet your appetite.
‘Travel Feature of the Year – UK Regional Media’ has been introduced as a direct result of comments and suggestions made at the Guild AGM in March. If you write specifically for regional media, this is a category to consider for those pieces of work.
‘Celebrating Diversity Through Storytelling’ has been introduced to reflect single pieces of work (written feature, photo story, podcast, broadcast or blog post) that centre around diversity, inclusivity and equality).
Entry is free, and the closing date is Monday 4 August. Entries will be judged by a cohort of travel media professionals gleaned from the UK, and from our sister organisations in Australia, the US and elsewhere. The shortlist will be announced at the start of October.
But should you be thinking, “Oh, not another awards scheme”, here’s the thing. The MEA is your awards scheme, crafted and produced by the Guild for you. Taking part and being shortlisted, or winning, is a direct benefit of membership. Doing well can really boost your reputation across the travel media community.
International Tourism Awards – the ITA
The ITAs are the Guild’s window on the world. If you’ve visited a tourism project, had your passion ignited and wished there was a way to give that project even more exposure than your article, broadcast or blog gave it, then nominating it for an ITA is what you need to do.
The tourism project needs to have opened, or started, after 1 August 2022, and you do need to have visited it in person. There are three categories (UK, Europe and Wider World).
To nominate, go to the Members’ website, read the blurb, and complete the form.
Unlike the MEA, where entries are judged, all ITA nominations will go out to a member vote. It’s completely democratic. Those projects that members like the best will go through as finalists.
The closing date for nominations is 27 July.
So, there you have it: you enter your best work for the Members’ Excellence Awards, and you nominate tourism projects you feel passionate about for the International Tourism Awards.
Oh, I nearly forgot. Winners of the 18 MEA categories receive a cash prize. For the ITA, if the project you nominate is a finalist, you receive a complementary ticket to the Gala Dinner so you can host your project representative(s).
So, whether it’s for the money, the boost to your reputation, the kudos, or being part of something special, as well as the role the MEA and ITA play, and have always played, in helping boost the reputation of the Guild, taking part really is time well spent.
Good luck!
