In:House #22

Posted on in Announcements by Mark Bibby Jackson
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:

Chris’ intro

Where’s this year going? Already we’re halfway through August! I hope all your travels are going well. I know I’m looking forward to a few exciting trips in the next few months.

First up, the deadline for this year’s ITAs is only 10 days away (25th August) and we do not have enough entries. Not enough entries = lost sponsorship income for us all. So get your entry in now for a chance to get a free dinner ticket for our amazing event. You can enter projects which you know about but haven’t visited yet.

It was great to see more smiling faces at our Cotswolds regional event at the Horse & Groom in Oddington. There are events coming every month now through to January so please support them. In September and October we switch to workshops for skills development. Where possible, these will also offer networking opportunities. As well as our first Sustainability Symposium, we have workshops with PRs, commissioning editors and for photography (see details below).

This year’s Gala Dinner will be a fantastic, fun event with a late bar (until 1am) and time to network, dance and party. We need your help though! Please tell all your industry and PR contacts about it as soon as possible. The more tables we fill, the more places we can get sponsored for you.

Many of you will be wondering about our next AGM. It’s been difficult finding destinations which will support the travel element this year and we have nothing concrete to tell you just yet. However, we’re exploring several promising opportunities, all overseas. We’re also working on both 2025 and 2026.

To end on good news, we are delighted to have three new Board members joining us. Mark Bibby Jackson is returning to the Board as Comms Director. Alicia Sheber has stepped up as Board Secretary, with Demi Perera stepping into the PR Director’s role. A big thank you to all of them and we look forward to working with you.

Chris Coe, BGTW Chair

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Awards

Members’ Excellence Awards

With these awards now closed, the judging is about to begin.  We’ll be announcing the shortlist in October and the winners at the Gala Dinner in November as usual.

International Tourism Awards

The closing date to nominate your projects for this year’s awards is 25th August so please get your nominations in quickly!  If you want a reminder of the rules visit the website. If you’re ready to nominate click on the button below to get to the form.  

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Events and dates for your diaries

Here are some dates for your diaries: –

29th Aug, 12.30pm

Introducing Lublin:

Together with the Polish National Tourist Office, the Lublin Regional Tourist Office will be showcasing an exciting insight into what this fascinating area has to offer. You are invited to an exclusive preview of Lublin city as well as the villages and towns in the surrounding region that are sure to be a top new destination for UK visitors.

Where: Shoreditch Arts Club, 6 Redchurch St, London E2 7DD

Please RSVP to Leia Gill. Spaces are limited.

10th or 11th Sept

The new dawn of travel PR:

Changing landscape and best practices. Venue to be confirmed

30th Sept

Travel Photography for PRs:

Introducing them to photography and the different needs of photographers on press trips. Venue to be confirmed.

Wednesday 2nd Oct

Better World Sustainability Symposium – Hyatt East London (places limited, registration required)

Due to a clash with two other events, we have postponed the BGTW Sustainability Symposium until October 2nd. This will be an interesting, yet laid-back event, with various panels covering sustainability, conservation, cultural preservation and other linked areas with industry experts, relevant brands and editors – followed by a networking social.

We will announce the full schedule and details in the coming weeks but for now, due to limited capacity, if you are interested in attending this event, please register your expression of interest to help us gauge numbers.

Register to attend here


8th or 10th Oct

Working with commissioning editors (more details to follow)

Photography for Travel Writers/Bloggers @ Fujifilm House of Photography, 8-9 Long Acre, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9LH. 11am to 5pm (places limited, registration required).

Register to attend here

4th Nov

BGTW Annual Gala Dinner

The BGTW Gala Awards Dinner will be held on Monday Nov 4, the eve of WTM, at the Bloomsbury Ballroom from 6pm to 11pm followed by an after-party bar to 12.45am.

The theme this year is The Great Gatsby, and the venue fits this perfectly. Built in 1926 as the South Ballroom for The Liverpool Friendly Society, The London Cabaret Club now produces evening-themed performances in a great setting. And the show for November and December? The Great Gatsby.

We are now selling tickets to the BGTW Dinner. Tickets are £295 (inc VAT) and include a Champagne Reception, a 3-course dinner with wine, fabulous Great Gatsby entertainment, our awards ceremonies and an after-party bar.

Please do contact your favourite PRs to encourage them to buy a table so you can be sure to go to the dinner.

Members’ tickets are £95 (inc VAT). If you want to attend the dinner (and have not contacted any PRs), send your name and some details about you to Charlotte Copeman. She will add your name to the list she will send out to PRs who book tables and have spare places.

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Membership news

Congratulations to all those BGTW members shortlisted for the LATA Media Awards.

Petra Shepherd is nominated for ‘Exploring Guyana: South America’s Wild Frontier’ (Trip Reporter) in the category of Best Latin America Travel Blog or Podcast.

Shafik Meghji has two shortlists. First, for ‘A road trip to the edge of the Earth’ (BBC Travel) as the Best Latin America Travel Feature – newspaper or news outlet (online or print), and second in the Best Specialist Feature (with a focus on conservation, community a/o sustainability) category for ‘Ghost Cats: Transforming attitudes to Pumas’ (Geographical Magazine).

Two members have been shortlisted for Best Published Latin America Travel Image. Karolina Wiercigroch for ‘Lima: A Culinary Renaissance’ (National Geographic Traveller), and Kav Dadfar for ‘The Road to the Moon’ (JRNY Magazine).

Good luck to all of them at the award ceremony to be held at Gaucho, Piccadilly, on 24 September.

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Sponsorship and partnerships

BGTW Summer Soirée in the Cotswolds

We loved seeing those of you who made it to our wonderful event at the cosy Cotswolds pub The Horse and Groom in Upper Oddington @horseandgroomoddington and thank you to all for coming.

Our hosts Norm and Warren, owners of this lovely gastro pub gave lucky Guildies a warm welcome and we enjoyed a summer soirée taste-testing the best of their menu as they impressed us with their fabulous food offering with flavours inspired by their travels around the world. Think fresh oysters, local steak and Lobster Thermidor paired with real ales and margaritas on tap… A big thank you to our hosts.

For more info, visit www.horseandgroomcotswolds.co.uk. Saddle up!

Winner, winner Lobster Thermidor dinner

We are also pleased to share with you that Heather Cowper is the very worthy winner of our social media competition at the BGTW Cotswolds Horse and Groom event. She scooped a £275 dining / accommodation voucher for her posts https://www.instagram.com/stories/heathercowper/

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Member benefits, survey and sustainability

An update from Daniel Clarke

Member Benefits

Work continues on securing new members’ benefits (conversations have slowed down over the summer) and hopefully, by September we will have further updates. For now, please do check the Benefits area of the website to see the current offers available to members, including renewed discounts and new discount codes from the likes of FlixBus and Antler. If you have any leads for BGTW benefits (non-commission dependent) please contact daniel.clarke@bgtw.org

Member Survey & Modernisation Panel

Thank you to everyone who took part in these two processes. The Board has now reviewed all feedback. Some of your suggestions are already being actioned, for example, there is now a dedicated budget to host events outside of London to remove commission requirements for any socials, we have adapted some of the planned workshops around feedback given, and we have implemented some of the feedback around swag and sustainability when it comes to the upcoming Gala Dinner. 

Other areas, such as benefits are ongoing, while the bigger points, especially around potential rebranding, will be addressed at the AGM via a vote. Work is also going on in the background to bring back a digital version of a reimagined Year Book and overhaul our website. Attention is mostly focused on the Awards, Gala and securing an AGM. However, I will follow up with a full report addressing all areas of your feedback in September.

Sustainability

October’s Sustainability Symposium is shaping up to be a fantastic event and I look forward to seeing many of you there. As a first edition, we’re keeping it limited to only around 50 members to ensure it’s an intimate and informative event with time for networking. All panel and speaker sessions will be recorded in podcast form to ensure that every member has access after the symposium. We’re finalising the panels and speakers in the coming week or two; if you might be interested in being further involved (whether as a moderator for a panel on a subject you’re particularly passionate about) or simply have an idea for a topic you’d love to see covered, please let me know (daniel.clarke@bgtw.org) as we still have a little wiggle room with the day’s schedule.

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Press trip opportunities – home and away

An update from Valery Collins

There are some interesting press trips on the horizon but please note these are not exclusive to Guild members but offers to apply to join a group press trip or to be considered for an individual press trip. Confirmed commissions are required.

Vilnius, Lithuania

Expected to take place at the end of September/beginning of October, this gastro press trip will focus on food in the capital city of Lithuania. If you are an expert on this topic and interested in taking part in this trip please contact Valery with details of confirmed commissions.

Christmas Markets in Poland

Individual press trips are available to visit the Christmas markets in Poland and the dates are flexible but good commissions are required. Contact Valery for more info.

UK Press Trips

Somerset Press Trips

Golden Autumn Days in Brean, in the land of the setting sun, include a brand new walking festival, a legendary Country and Western Festival and screen tie ins.

For more information about press trips and images please contact Jane Egginton.

Press Trip Opportunities in Scotland

Monzie Estate Cottages are offering an opportunity to stay in one of their luxury self-catering cottages. These remote cottages offer the ideal opportunity to get away from it all. The closest city is Crief. Interested? Contact Valery.

Coorie Inn is a restaurant with warm refined rooms. Set in the Perthshire countryside this converted sixteenth century coaching inn is 2.1 miles from Drummond Castle and 4 miles from Crieff Golf Course. The restaurant serves French-inspired cuisine and features a cosy bar/lounge, a garden and a patio. Ideal for foodie writers and those interested in country sports. Contact Valery if this is one for you

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Mark Bibby Jackson
By: Mark Bibby Jackson Editor, Freelance Journalist, Travel Writer