More magazine award nominations

A couple of my explore Magazine articles received nominations for the Canadian National Magazine Awards. The Best of Banff article, a mini travel guide to Canada's oldest National Park, and The New Classics, new trips to try across Canada, both received nominations in the Service: Lifestyle category. The Best of Banff also got a nod in the Single Service Article Package.  The Best of Banff article already won a Northern Lights Award from the Canadian Tourism Commission.

The full list of National Magazine Award nominees can be found at http://www.magazine-awards.com/
Winners will be announced on June 10th in Toronto.

3rd in Northern Lights travel journalism award

Next week Explore Magazine will accept an award on my behalf from the Northern Lights Awards part of the Canadian Tourism Commission's Media Marketplace in New York City. An article I wrote in the June 2010 issue of Explore Magazine won third place in the magazine category, which recognizes excellence in "tourism-oriented coverage on Canadian destinations in 2010."

My article was The Best of Banff, an in depth travel guide to Canada's first and most popular national park. I grew up and went to university in Calgary, spending all my free time playing in the mountains around Banff. My parents still live in the area and I return two or three times a year. I tapped my parents extensive knowledge to a huge extent and this article would be a skeleton without their input.

The article was a collage of bits and pieces: best bets on hotels, hikes and adventures; recommendations from locals; suggested reads; and more. All of it was designed to help a visitor to Banff make the best use of their time. I think I succeeded. 

Of all the hundreds of articles I've written it is the one I'm the most proud of. An excerpt from the original article is online at explore-mag.com.

And the winner is...me!

I won Gold and a few other nods from the National Magazine Awards. Along with a stellar editor and creative team I won Gold for the Summer List, a collection of 50 things to do, in explore's Summer 2009 issue. I won a solo Silver for Best of our Parks in the June 2009 issue.

Several other stories and packages I was involved with won Honorable Mentions. You can see the full list at the National Magazine Awards site.