AITO, The Specialist Travel Association, is pleased to announce that the 2024 AITO Travel Writer of the Year (TWOTY) Awards are now open for entries. The closing date for submissions is 31 July 2024.

AITO will accept articles published over the 12-month period, from 1 July 2023 through to 30 June 2024, within five key categories (see below). The judges seek articles that are not only inspirational, informative and interesting, but are also expertly written.

Martyn Sumners, Executive Director of AITO, says: “The AITO Travel Writer of the Year Awards are a celebration of the many talented writers who have greatly supported the travel industry in recent years – inspiring their readers to follow in their footsteps through their countless journeys and myriad travel experiences. The intention of these awards is to recognise, highlight and celebrate those articles which not only captivate, but which also inspire the reader on so many fronts.

“We encourage both entries from travel editors (on behalf of themselves and/or their teams) and from individual travel writers and bloggers who would like to self-nominate. We wish all entrants the very best of luck!”

Every year, the AITO Travel Writer of the Year competition receives many hundreds of entries; its aim is simple: to recognise and to reward the UK's best travel writers, whether they be well-established or newly starting out.

There are five Travel Writer of the Year award categories for 2024:

1. Travel Writer of the Year – short (under 1,500 words)
2. Travel Writer of the Year – long (over 1,500 words)
3. Young Travel Writer of the Year (aged 30 and under)
4. Blogger of the Year
5. Travel Trade Writer of the Year

Several hundred articles were submitted for the 2023 TWOTY Awards, with the most hotly-contested Travel Writer of the Year Award (over 1,500 words) going to Liz Edwards for Son, spa and sand in Oman, a piece for The Sunday Times, and the Travel Writer of the Year Award (under 1,500 words) going to Sean Newsom for his article Following in the footsteps of Cézanne in Provence, also written for The Sunday Times. The full list of 2023 winners can be viewed here.

The 2024 TWOTY awards will be presented on Tuesday 15 October at this year's AITO Meets the Media event – details to follow. Please save the date!

AITO TRAVEL WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2024 – ENTRY DETAILS IN BRIEF:

1. AITO Travel Writer of the Year – short (under 1,500 words)
   The AITO Travel Writer of the Year award is a much-sought-after accolade. Recognising excellence in the field of travel writing, past winners include some of the most respected travel journalists in the industry; it's always a hotly-contested category.

2. AITO Travel Writer of the Year – long (over 1,500 words)
   The second AITO Travel Writer of the Year category focuses on longer-form articles, ie over 1,500 words; again, it is a key accolade and the competition is very keen.
   
   
3. AITO Young Travel Writer of the Year (aged 30 and under)
   This award is designed to celebrate the achievements of younger travel journalists. It is open to published journalists who are aged 30 and under on 30 June 2024.
   
   
4. AITO Travel Blogger of the Year
   This award recognises the important role of travel bloggers as key influencers in the travel industry; it celebrates the skills used to create posts that are inspirational, fresh and well-written.
   
   
5.  AITO Travel Trade Writer of the Year
   This award celebrates not only the technical writing abilities of travel trade writers, but also their skills in writing relevant, interesting and insightful articles. Their knowledge of the industry and grasp of complex issues, together with their campaigning skills and commitment to the travel sector, deserve due recognition – as does their descriptive prowess and accuracy when sampling destinations and briefing their travel trade readers accordingly.

NB: A maximum of three articles or blogs – print or online – may be submitted per writer; the submission(s) must be in Word format (text only), without photographs, or reference to the journalist or publication within the copy, and the article must have been published between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024. This is to ensure total anonymity, so that the judges score solely based on the article in question, without any possible bias due to the writer's reputation. 

Deadline for entries is 6pm on 31 July 2024. Please submit entries via this link - AITO Travel Writer of the Year Awards 2024 Entry Form.