AITO, The Specialist Travel Association, is pleased to announce that the 2025 AITO Travel Writer of the Year (TWOTY) Awards are now open for entries!

All articles submitted must have been published within the 12-month period, from 1 July 2024 through to 30 June 2025, and fit within one of the five key categories (see below).

The closing date for submissions is 31 August 2025.

Martyn Sumners, Executive Director of AITO, says: “We are delighted once again to open entries for our annual AITO Travel Writer of the Year Awards – a celebration of the many talented writers who continue to support the travel industry year after year, inspiring readers with their insightful and engaging articles.

The intention of these awards is to recognise and celebrate those storytellers who capture the hearts and minds of our judges, with articles that are not only inspirational, educational and informative, but also expertly written.

As always, we encourage 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!”

There are five Travel Writer of the Year award categories for 2025:

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 2024 TWOTY Awards, with the most hotly-contested Travel Writer of the Year Award (over 1,500 words) going to Ellie Fazan for Single, Pregnant and Travelling, a piece about Sri Lanka, for Adventure.com, and the Travel Writer of the Year Award (under 1,500 words) going to Jacqui Agate for her article The best way to see America's ultimate wilderness is by train, for The Telegraph. The full list of 2024 winners can be viewed here.

The 2025 TWOTY Awards will be presented at this year's AITO Meets the Media event to be held in October 2025 – details to follow. 

AITO TRAVEL WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2025 – ENTRY DETAILS:

1. AITO Travel Writer of the Year – short (under 1,500 words)
   The AITO Travel Writer of the Year award recognises excellence in the field of travel writing, for outstanding articles under 1,500 words that capture the essence of a destination, journey, or experience with impact and originality. Past winners include some of the most respected travel journalists in the industry.

2. AITO Travel Writer of the Year – long (over 1,500 words)
   This category focuses on longer-form articles, over 1,500 words, celebrating in-depth features and long reads that demonstrate depth of research and immersive storytelling.
   
   
3. AITO Young Travel Writer of the Year (aged 30 and under)
   This award is designed to celebrate the achievements of younger / emerging travel journalists. It is open to published journalists who are aged 30 and under on 30 June 2025.
   
   
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
   Honouring excellence in B2B travel journalism, this category highlights the best writing from the travel trade press, covering industry trends, insights, and analysis.

Submission details:

• 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. This is to ensure total anonymity, so that the judges score solely based on the article in question, without any possible bias. 
• The article must have been published between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025.
• Deadline for entries is 1800 hours on 31 August 2025. 

Please submit entries via this link: AITO Travel Writer of the Year Awards 2025 Entry Form.

The two panels of judges (first round and second round) look forward to reading some sparkling and interesting travel articles! We wish good luck to all who enter.

Ends / 1 July 2025

Press: For more information on AITO or AITO Specialist Travel Agents, or for quotes or comments on industry issues, please contact Sue Ockwell, Julia Farish or Gemma Minto at Travel PR - s.ockwell@travelpr.co.uk / 07831 126356, j.farish@travelpr.co.uk or g.minto@travelpr.co.uk.