Entering the BGTW Members' Excellence Awards 2025

BGTW Members’ Excellence Awards 2025

Category descriptions and entry criteria

BGTW members are invited to submit their best work in the categories shown below. Entries must be a member’s own work and have been published or broadcast during the year from 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025 (note the exception in the information below where books are concerned).

The deadline for entries is 5pm on Monday 4 August 2025.

In this first section of information below we list the categories with a summary of what that category recognises. In the second section you will find additional entry information to assist you with making an entry or entries. In the third section you will find general rules and regulations. All three sections should be read to ensure entries are correctly prepared and submitted.

Section 1: Categories recognising single pieces of work:

Travel Feature of the Year – UK
This award recognises written travel features that focus on the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland).

Travel Feature of the Year – Europe
This award recognises written travel features that focus on Europe (non-UK and including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands).

Travel Feature of the Year – Wider World
This award recognises written travel features that focus on the wider world outside of Europe.

Travel Feature of the Year – UK Regional Media

This award recognises travel features written specifically for UK regional media.

Travel Feature of the Year – Travel Trade Media
This award recognises travel features written specifically for travel trade media, ie non-consumer.

Specialist Travel Feature of the Year
This award recognises written travel features that focus specifically on food, wellness, cruise, safari, family travel or any niche specialist travel sector not covered by any of our other categories. This category does not include broad or general topics such as ‘outdoor’ or ‘adventure’. Features focusing on sustainability should be entered in the ‘Sustainability Feature of the Year’ category.

Journey Feature of the Year
This award recognises features that are clearly centred around the journey itself. For example, a road or rail trip, a trip made by bike, air, on water, on foot or by any other self-propelled means.

Sustainability Feature of the Year
This award recognises pieces of work (written feature, photo story, podcast, broadcast, or blog post) that are centred around, and champion, projects and tourism experiences that are rooted in genuinely sustainable practices. The award will be given to the piece that most successfully and creatively brings an understanding of the environmental, social and/or cultural context of a tourism experience to a wider audience.

Travel Guide Book of the Year
This award is open to written travel guide books published as a book between 1 August 2023 and 31 July 2025 (note the two-year period), and not entered in this category before. This award is for a whole guide book (written by one BGTW member or jointly by BGTW members entering together) or a chapter(s) of a guide book with a minimum of 10,000 words. Shorter chapters can be submitted for feature awards. See the criteria below.

Travel Narrative Book of the Year
This award is open to written travel books (other than guide books) published as a book between 1 August 2023 and 31 July 2025 (note the two-year period), and not entered in this category before. This award is for the whole book only and single chapters are not permitted. A book that has been co-written by BGTW members can be submitted as a joint entry.

Celebrating Diversity Through Storytelling

This award recognises a single piece of media in any form (written feature, photo story, podcast, broadcast, or blog post) that centres around diversity, inclusivity and equality.

Travel Photo Feature of the Year
This award recognises the photo element of published and image-led travel features. The feature must contain a minimum of five images taken by the photographer. It will be judged solely on how the photography, supplied by the member, has contributed or added to the overall feature to portray a subject or tell a story. It will not be judged on the text.

Travel Blog Post of the Year
This award recognises the quality of single blog posts. This includes blogs published on members’ own blogs or on another website’s blog section. This latter reference, whilst likely to be a website dedicated to publishing travel media and articles, can include a business website with a blog section, for example, a cruise operator’s blog. If written for a blog other than that of the member submitting the work, it should be a paid commission and submitted as an original version without edits.

Travel Broadcast of the Year
This award recognises the quality of single broadcasts. A broadcast can be entered by a member acting as presenter, director or producer, who is the sole contributor to the show and who owns the content of the broadcast. Joint entries will also be accepted where members have worked together on a broadcast. A broadcast is defined as TV, radio, podcasts, and vlogs.

Portfolio categories recognising a member’s wider skill set:

BGTW Travel Blogger of the Year

This award recognises the overall quality of a blogger’s work across a submitted portfolio of four written blogs published on the blogger’s own blog, and unlike ‘Travel Blog Post of the Year’, only on the blogger’s own blog.

BGTW Travel Broadcaster of the Year

This award recognises the overall quality of a broadcaster’s work through a submitted portfolio of four travel broadcasts, podcasts or vlogs, or a combination of these. Members must be the presenter in the broadcast.

Joint entries will also be accepted where members have worked together on a broadcast. Entries from directors, producers or guests are not eligible.

BGTW Photographer of the Year

This award recognises the overall quality of a photographer’s work through a submitted portfolio of six images, a minimum of three of which must have been published. Entries must include more than one type (genre) of subject, for example, people, place, wildlife, landscape, food, architecture etc. The photographer’s versatility and originality across the portfolio will be assessed. Images sold and published through stock agencies can be submitted without tear sheets.

BGTW Travel Writer of the Year

This award recognises the overall quality of a travel writer’s work judged on a submitted portfolio of four published written features. Features entered in other categories of the MEA 2025 may be included as part of the portfolio for this category. However, in the event of winning this award, individual features cannot also win another feature category.

Section 2: Full Entry Criteria

Please read the following entry criteria for each category carefully, and in conjunction with the award descriptions listed above.

Categories recognising single pieces of work:

Travel Feature of the Year – UK; Travel Feature of the Year – Europe; Travel Feature of the Year – Wider World; Travel Feature of the Year – UK Regional Media; Travel Feature of the Year – Travel Trade Media; Specialist Travel Feature of the Year; Journey Feature of the Year:

The judges will be looking for creativity and originality in writing style and content.
Written features are articles published between 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025.
There is no minimum or maximum word count.
‘Publication’ means in print and/or online, but not on social media.
Online means articles commissioned, published and paid for by websites or blogs (including self-commissioned blog articles on the writer’s personal blog), and self-published e-magazines and e-books.
A self-contained chapter written by a member for a published book (or a guide book chapter of less than 10,000 words) can be submitted for any of the written feature awards.
Publications can be English outlets (in the English language) outside the UK.
Articles should be submitted in their original, unedited form as Word documents, with identifying data removed. The BGTW believes that the original form best reflects the ability of Guild members. Note: book chapters can be supplied as pdfs from the relevant book, ensuring the parent book is clearly identifiable.
To help avoid any bias during the judging process and deliver a level playing field, entries must be anonymised. It is the member’s responsibility to make sure there is nothing in a submission that can identify the member. All headers and footers should therefore be deleted, as should any family names (of children, partners), or anything other content that might reveal the author’s identity.
The award category for which the article is being entered should be shown at the top of the document along with your membership number. Contact the BGTW Administrator if you do not know your membership number (it is on your press card though).
For entries submitted as Word documents, articles should be presented in Arial font. Please remove any images from submission.
You must use the title as it appeared in the publication.
When submitting your form online you should include a scanned or pdf copy of the published article as proof of publication, as well as a url link to the published works. If you do not have access to a scanner, you can use a photograph. A photocopy of the original will be accepted by post if accompanied with a clear note outlining what it is for.
Entries by hard copy cannot be accepted. The BGTW Administrator is available to assist if you have technical difficulties.

Sustainability Feature of the Year

This category is open to writers, bloggers, photographers, and broadcasters.
Writers and bloggers: one feature or blog post. There is no minimum or maximum word count for written features. The website must have been published for at least a year, and have a readership of at least 5,000 visitors a month on average over the last year (as shown by Google Analytics or similar)
Photographers – a minimum of three and a maximum of six photographs from the SAME photo story/shoot.
Broadcasters – one broadcast or podcast. Members must act as presenter of the broadcast/podcast only. Entries from directors, producers or guests are not eligible. The broadcast must be an entire programme.
The judges will be looking for creativity and originality in writing style and content.
Written or broadcast content must have been published or aired between 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025.
‘Publication’ means in print and online, but not on social media.
Online means articles commissioned, published and paid for by websites or blogs (including self-commissioned blog articles on the writer’s personal blog where permitted), self-published e-magazines and e-books, podcast and broadcast platforms.
Publications can be English outlets (in the English language) outside the UK.
Articles should be submitted in their original, unedited form in Word documents (remembering to ensure all identifying data is removed). BGTW believes that the original form best reflects the ability of Guild members.
Photographs should be captioned with the story name and be uploaded as files of 3MB or less.
AI-generated images are not permitted.
Broadcasts/podcasts should be uploaded as mp3, mp4 or similar format.
To help avoid any bias during the judging process and deliver a level playing field, print entries must be anonymised. It is the member’s responsibility to make sure there is nothing in a submission that can identify the member. All headers and footers should therefore be deleted, as should any family names (of children, partners), or anything other content that might reveal the author’s identity.
The award category for which the content is being entered should be shown at the top of the document along with your membership number. Contact the BGTW Administrator if you do not know your membership number.
Written articles should be presented in Arial font. Please remove images from submission.
You must use the title as it appeared in the publication.
You should include a scanned or pdf copy of the published article as proof of publication, as well as a url link to the published works, when submitting your form online. If you do not have access to a scanner, you can use a photograph. A photocopy of the original will be accepted by post if accompanied with a clear note outlining what it is for.
Entries by hard copy cannot be accepted. The BGTW Administrator is available to assist if you have technical difficulties.

Travel Guide Book of the Year

Members can submit more than one book in this category so long as the publishing dates fit within the dates shown below.
Judges will be looking for clarity, originality and creativity in the writing style.
All book(s) should have been published between 1 August 2023 and 31 July 2025 (the last two years).
Entries may have been published as a book either in print or online.
The book(s), or chapter where permissible (see below), should be a minimum of 10,000 words.
Entries MUST be accompanied by a written statement (up to 100 words) that highlights any particular noteworthy features or approaches. As judges are unlikely to read the book from cover to cover, this will assist them in the judging process.
In the past we have asked for hard copies of a book. This year, and to make it easier for everyone, especially when it comes to posting books out to judges, we are asking you to supply the URL for the digital version. If there isn’t a digital version then we will need a pdf of the book(s). Where neither URL nor pdf is available, three hard copies of the book will be required. In this situation, please contact the BGTW administrator for guidance on where to send the books.
If the book is multi-authored and you are entering your chapter only, please make clear which sections of the book you have worked on.
If two or more Guild members have jointly authored a full guide book, they may make a joint entry and, if won, the award will be issued to all named entrants (in this instance, there is no need to detail who has worked on which sections of the book as it is being judged as a whole). Prize money for jointly entered awards will be split between the joint entrants.
If the book is not the sole work of a member, the individual contribution of the member should not be less than a full chapter. Only new chapters of second editions are eligible.
If the book is a reprint or new edition, there must have been substantial changes since the previous edition.

Travel Narrative Book of the Year

Members can submit more than one book in this category so long as the publishing dates fit within the dates shown below.
Judges will be looking for clarity, originality and creativity in the writing style.
All book(s) should have been published between 1 August 2023 and 31 July 2025 (the last two years).
Entries may have been published as a book either in print or online.
The book(s) should be a minimum of 10,000 words.
In the past we have asked for hard copies of a book. This year, and to make it easier for everyone, especially when it comes to posting books out to judges, we are asking you to supply the URL for the digital version. If there isn’t a digital version then we will need a pdf of the book(s). Where neither URL nor pdf is available, three hard copies of the book will be required. In this situation, please contact the BGTW administrator for guidance on where to send the books.
If two or more Guild members have jointly authored a travel narrative book, they may make a joint entry and, if won, the award will be issued to all named entrants (in this instance, there is no need to detail who has worked on which sections of the book as it is being judged as a whole). Prize money for jointly entered awards will be split between the joint entrants.
If the book is not the sole work of a member, the individual contribution of the member should not be less than a full chapter. Only new chapters of second editions are eligible.
If the book is a reprint or new edition, there must have been substantial changes since the previous edition.

Celebrating Diversity Through Storytelling

This category is open to writers, bloggers, photographers, and broadcasters.
Writers and bloggers: one feature or blog. There is no minimum or maximum word count for written features. The website must have been published for at least a year, and have a readership of at least 5,000 visitors a month on average over the last year (as shown by Google Analytics or similar)
Photographers – a minimum of three and a maximum of six photographs from the SAME photo story/shoot.
Broadcasters – one broadcast or podcast. Members must act as presenter of the broadcast/podcast only. Entries from directors, producers or guests are not eligible. The broadcast must be an entire programme.
All entries must be accompanied by a written statement (up to 100 words) about the entrant’s approach to inclusivity in the entered content.
The judges will be looking for creativity and originality in writing style and content.
Written or broadcast content must have been published or aired between 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025.
‘Publication’ means in print and online, but not on social media.
Online means articles commissioned, published and paid for by websites or blogs (including self-commissioned blog articles on the writer’s personal blog where permitted), self-published e-magazines and e-books, podcast and broadcast platforms.
Publications can be English outlets (in the English language) outside the UK
Articles should be submitted in their original, unedited form in Word documents (remembering to ensure all identifying data is removed). BGTW believes that the original form best reflects the ability of Guild members.
Photographs should be captioned with the story name and be uploaded as files of 3MB or less.
AI-generated images are not permitted.
Broadcasts/podcasts should be uploaded as mp3, mp4 or similar format.
To help avoid any bias during the judging process and deliver a level playing field, print entries must be anonymised. It is the member’s responsibility to make sure there is nothing in a submission that can identify the member. All headers and footers should therefore be deleted, as should any family names (of children, partners), or anything other content that might reveal the author’s identity.
The award category for which the content is being entered should be shown at the top of the document along with your membership number. Contact the BGTW Administrator if you do not know your membership number.
Written articles should be presented in Arial font. Please remove images from submission.
You must use the title as it appeared in the publication.
You should include a scanned or pdf copy of the published article as proof of publication, when submitting your form online. If you do not have access to a scanner, you can use a photograph. A photocopy of the original will be accepted by post if accompanied with a clear note outlining what it is for.
Entries by hard copy cannot be accepted. The BGTW Administrator is available to assist if you have technical difficulties.

Travel Photo Feature of the Year

The judges will be looking for a published feature that contains five or more images supplied by the member.
In terms of what should be submitted, a maximum of six published images that appear in the published feature should be included with the entry as individual jpeg files, submitted using the entry form where indicated. If the feature contains more than six images, you must choose six that you feel best represent the story being told.
The entries will be judged on how a story or subject is conveyed by the imagery. Accompanying text and captions will NOT be judged.
The judges will also be looking at the quality of the photos themselves, but it is noted that the choice of which images were used would have been down to the editorial team.
The photo feature must have been published between 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025 and in any print or online media.
If a printed feature, the published feature should be scanned and submitted as a pdf, making sure the name and date of the publication is clear. If the feature is published online, a link can be provided, and the date of posting should be visible.
AI-generated images are not permitted.

Travel Blog Post of the Year

The judges will be looking for an individual blog post that reflects the distinctive personality of the member.
The post being submitted for judging must be the member’s original material and be related to travel.
The post can be published on the member’s own blog or on another website’s blog section. This latter reference, whilst likely to be a website dedicated to publishing travel media and articles, can include a business website with a blog section, for example, a cruise operator’s blog.
The blog must have been published for at least a year, and have a readership of at least 5,000 visitors a month on average over the last year (as shown by Google Analytics or similar).
You must provide the URL of the site that gives archive evidence showing that the blog has been published at least since 1 July 2024.
The post must have been published between 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025. (So, whilst the post itself must have been posted / published within the timeframe specified, the blog platform on which it has been posted must have been live for at least a year, with the proven monthly view numbers.)
Articles should be sent electronically via the online form as a Word document.
The award category for which the article is being entered should be shown at the top of the document along with your membership number. Contact the BGTW Administrator if you do not know your membership number.
The article should be presented in Arial font. Please remove images from the submission.
You must use the title as it appeared in the blog.
You should include a url link to the published works to confirm publication date when submitting your form online.

Travel Broadcast of the Year

The judges will be looking for a single TV or radio broadcast, podcast, or vlog that is travel related and reflects the distinctive personality of the Guild member making the submission.
The content must be the member’s original material but can cover any genre, such as documentary, comedy, social comment, etc., related to travel.
The broadcast must have been aired during the period from 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025.
The broadcast must be an entire programme.
The member submitting an entry may be the presenter, director or producer.
Joint entries will also be accepted where members have worked together on a broadcast.
The broadcast must be submitted electronically as an audio or video file.

Portfolio categories recognising a member’s wider skill set:

BGTW Travel Blogger of the Year

This category requires the member to submit a portfolio of four of their own blog posts that have appeared on their blog.
All four posts must be travel-related and have been published between 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025.
The blog must have been published for at least a year, ending 31 July 2025, and have a readership of at least 5,000 visitors a month on average over the last year (as shown by Google Analytics or similar). This proof needs to be submitted with your entry.
You must provide the URL of the site that gives archive evidence showing that the blog has been published at least since 1 July 2024.
Articles should be sent electronically via the online form as a Word document.
You must provide links to the four posts being submitted in addition to the Word documents.
Blogs entered in this year’s ‘Travel Blog of the Year’ category may be included as part of the portfolio for this category. However, in the event of winning this award, individual blogs cannot also win in that category.

BGTW Travel Broadcaster of the Year

This category requires the member to submit a portfolio of four broadcasts.
The judges will be looking for TV or radio programmes, podcasts, vlogs that are travel-related and reflect the distinctive personality of the Guild member making the submission.
The portfolio can be a combination of any type of broadcast.
The content of the portfolio must be the member’s original material and can cover any genre: documentary, comedy, social comment etc. or a mix of these, related to travel.
The broadcasts must have been aired during the period from 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025.
The broadcasts must be entire programmes.
The member submitting an entry must be the presenter of each broadcast.
A broadcast where members have worked together can be submitted as part of the portfolio.
The broadcasts must be submitted electronically as an audio or video file.
Broadcasts entered in this year’s ‘Travel Broadcast of the Year’ category may be included as part of the portfolio for this category. However, in the event of winning this award, individual broadcasts cannot also win that category.

BGTW Photographer of the Year

Members are required to submit a portfolio of six individual photographs.
At least three of the six submitted photos must have been published, individually or collectively, during the period from 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025.
The photos must have been produced by the member.
Entries must include more than one type (genre) of subject, such as people, places, wildlife, landscapes, food, architecture etc, as opposed to one single aspect.
The judges will be looking for quality, creativity, imagination, originality, composition and content. The photographer’s versatility in portraying the various aspects of travel will also be taken into account in the judging.
Photos should be contemporary. The member is required to describe when and where each photo was taken.
Photos previously submitted in the BGTW Members’ Excellence Awards cannot be resubmitted. Images similar or almost identical to previous winners are not eligible and will be disqualified.
Permitted standard digital manipulation of entries is allowed including cropping, exposure, minor editing, sharpening etc. Manipulation of the main subject, removal of key elements, addition of elements (for example, sky replacement), or montage is not allowed.
AI-generated images are not permitted.
Photographs should be sent as high quality JPEGs up to 3MB in size. Prints, transparencies or negatives will not be accepted for entry.
Proof of publication for the minimum of three published images should be provided with PDFs (if published in print) showing the date of publication. Links should be provided to images published online only, including the date of posting.
Where images were sold and published through stock libraries, a library sales statement, or similar, will be accepted as proof of publication.
To help avoid any bias during the judging process and deliver a level playing field, it is the member’s responsibility to make sure there is nothing in a submission that can identify the member. Care should be taken to delete file references etc where appropriate.

BGTW Travel Writer of the Year

This category requires members to submit a portfolio of four written features.
The judges will be looking for travel-related features that show the breadth of the member’s writing skills.
Features entered in other categories of the MEA 2025 may be included as part of the portfolio for this category. However, in the event of winning this award, individual features cannot also win another feature category.
All features must have been published between 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025.
There is no limit to the word count on any of the articles submitted, nor to the total word count for the portfolio.
The articles must have been commissioned and may have been published in any magazine, newspaper or on the internet. Articles can be either for the consumer or trade press, or a mix of both.
The portfolio of entries must be submitted as a single Word document. It is the member’s decision about what order the features should appear in the Word document, noting that judges will usually read from the start of the document.
To help avoid any bias during the judging process and deliver a level playing field, entries must be anonymised. It is the member’s responsibility to make sure there is nothing in a submission that can identify the member. All headers and footers should therefore be deleted, as should any family names (of children, partners), or anything other content that might reveal the author’s identity.
For other entry requirements, please see the notes shown under the individual feature categories above.

Section 3: General rules and regulations

There are some general rules and regulations you should note:

Members may submit a maximum of one entry in each category for work published/broadcast between 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025.

Please note this timeline is different in the Travel Guide Book and Travel Narrative Book categories, and where a book is entered in the Celebrating Diversity Through Storytelling category, where there is a two year window: 1 August 2023 to 31 July 2025. A member may also enter more than one book in either or both of the two book categories, subject to the same two-year publishing period.

No article may be submitted for more than one category, except where a single-entry forms part of the four or six items required for the portfolio categories.
All entries must be published work unless otherwise stated.
All entries must be for paid content. Entries for unpaid work will not be accepted.
Entries that form part of one of the four portfolio award categories will not be permitted to also win an individual entry category. In the event that an entry is selected as the winner in two categories, the portfolio award will be awarded to this entrant. The award in the individual category will go to the second-place entry in that category. The portfolio award-winner will still be able to win an individual category with content that does not form part of their award-winning portfolio.
Articles, photos, books or other media submitted in the BGTW Members’ Excellence Awards in previous years cannot be resubmitted.
Photographs, DVDs etc. should be marked only with the membership number (to be found on your BGTW membership card) and the title/subject. Do NOT include the name, address or other identifying mark of the member.
All entries must be in the English language.
Please note that it is the responsibility of the member to ensure that the entry form(s) is completed fully, and that all supporting evidence is supplied as shown.
A failure to supply all information requested may mean the entry cannot be judged.
Articles should be submitted in their original, unedited form as Word documents, remembering to ensure all identifying data is removed. BGTW believes that the original form best reflects the ability of Guild members.
No AI–generated copy, photographs, broadcasts or blogs will be accepted. If any entry is subsequently found to be AI generated then it will be disqualified.
The BGTW Board reserves the right to withdraw from the competition any award category that doesn’t receive at least six qualified entries.
BGTW prides itself on ensuring a fair and equitable judging process. We allocate three judges to each category, those judges sourced from the UK, Australia, the US and other countries. In addition to anonymising entries wherever possible, we endeavour to ensure we have different judges for each category. The only exception to this is where the judges for the portfolio categories for blogging, broadcasting and photography also judge the respective categories for individual work. We use separate judges for ‘BGTW Travel Writer of the Year’.

Please address queries about entering these awards to the BGTW Administrator on 020 8144 8713 or by email to charlotte@bgtw.org. However, during May 2025, Charlotte will be away so please contact BGTW Awards Director, Stuart Render, by email at stuart.render@bgtw.org

Deadline

The deadline for entries is Monday 4 August 2025 at 5pm (UK).

Enter here

Information for members:

** please note, we have been advised that there will be a short outage for maintenance of Award Force taking place on 12th May. During this time all users will see a maintenance page. This action has been planned to start at 7am UTC on Monday, 12 May and should not take longer than up to 15 minutes **

This year, as in 2024, we are using Award Force software to administer the Members’ Excellence Awards. Members who registered with Award Force in 2024 will be able to use the same log-on credentials. If you haven’t used Award Force before you will need to register first before being able to submit your entries. A verification code/link will be sent to the email address used to register. Sometimes these links go to spam so please check spam first if it has not arrived – and then mark Award Force as ‘safe’. Contact Charlotte if you have any further questions.

Thank you, and we wish you every success in this year’s BGTW Members’ Excellence Awards.

Entering the BGTW Members’ Excellence Awards 2025