Entries open for Africa Travel Week Media Awards

By significantly contributing to showcasing the continent’s rich tourism potential, media practitioners cultivate essential connections between stakeholders, and drive the industry’s growth.

The Africa Travel Week Media Awards recognise this vital work, honouring those who tell Africa’s unique travel stories through exceptional journalism, compelling narratives, and breath-taking imagery.

Categories

• Sustainability Feature Award
  • Championing a greener future in travel, the Sustainability Feature Award recognises compelling narratives that spotlight sustainability practices in the African travel industry.
  • Feature must be focused on a sustainability issue or initiative in African travel.
  • Provides in-depth analysis or investigative reporting.
  • Highlights innovative solutions, impactful sustainability practices, or inspiring individuals/organisations.
  • Inspires and educates audiences about sustainability in travel.
• Visual Tourism Award
  • The Visual Tourism Award celebrates the power of visual storytelling in African tourism. This award recognises extraordinary photographers and digital artists whose work captures the diverse beauty, culture, and spirit of Africa’s destinations, helping them to see the continent through a unique lens.
  • Photo or artwork must depict an aspect related to African tourism.
  • Captions should be unique and descriptive.
  • Judged based on the photo or artwork’s quality, composition, originality, and emotional resonance.
• Destination Feature Award
  • The Destination Feature Award recognises outstanding storytelling that brings African destinations to life. This award honours the creatives who capture the unique essence of a place, diving deep into its culture, heritage, and attractions, and compelling them to embark on the own African journey.
  • Feature must focus on a specific African destination.
  • Provides a comprehensive understanding of the destination.
  • Captures the unique culture, history, natural beauty, or attractions of the destination.
• Tourism News Award
  • The Tourism News Award honours outstanding journalism in African tourism. This accolade is given to journalists who skilfully report on important developments, bringing clarity and context to events that shape the industry, and influencing the way they perceive and understand African tourism.
  • Content must focus on a significant development, event, or issue in African tourism.
  • Demonstrates solid journalism ethics, including accuracy, fairness, and impartiality.
  • Provides valuable insights and analysis on the reported event.

Eligibility Criteria

• The awards are open to all media practitioners including journalists, bloggers, videographers, and photographers who produce content related to African tourism.
• Participants may submit as many unique entries as they wish for each award category.
• Submissions must have been published or broadcast within the specified qualifying year – 2023.
• There is no entry fee to participate in the Africa Travel Week Media Awards.

Criteria

• Sustainability Feature Award
  • The submission must be a feature-length article, video, podcast, or blog post published or broadcast within the qualifying year.
  • Judging will be based on quality of storytelling, research, creative presentation, and impact on audience.
  • Entries provided must have appeared in print or online between 1 January 2023 and 30 January 2024.
• Visual Tourism Award
  • The photo or artwork submission must have been taken within the qualifying year.
  • Entrants can submit multiple photos and artworks, but each one must be accompanied by a unique, descriptive caption.
  • Judging will be based on the photo or artwork’s quality, composition, originality, and its ability to capture the essence of the subject matter.
  • The photo or artwork should evoke an emotional response and inspire travel or a greater understanding of African tourism.
  • For photo submissions, all photos shall comply with the following requirements:
    • Photos in JPEG format with high quality of compression (but not more than 5 MB).
    • Photos are to be uploaded in their original size. The Participant must not scale the photo or otherwise change its resolution.
    • ICC profile is to be embedded in the photo.
    • Only images with a single exposure and in One (1) frame may be accepted.
    • Only original camera images are allowed to participate in the Awards.
    • Minimum adjustments of exposure and colour and cropping are allowed.
  • Entries provided must have appeared in print or online between 1 January 2023 and 30 January 2024.
• Destination Feature Award
  • The submission must be a feature-length article, video, podcast, or blog post published or broadcast within the qualifying year.
  • The feature should provide in-depth coverage, offering readers or viewers a comprehensive understanding of the destination.
  • The entry should capture the unique culture, history, natural beauty, and/or attractions of the destination.
  • Judging will be based on the depth of research, quality of storytelling, creative presentation, and its ability to inspire travel to the featured destination.
  • Entries provided must have appeared in print or online between 1 January 2023 and 30 January 2024.
• Tourism News Award
  • The submission must be a news article, video, podcast, or blog post published or broadcast within the qualifying year.
  • It must demonstrate solid journalism ethics, including accuracy, fairness, and impartiality.
  • The news piece should provide valuable insights and analysis, helping readers or viewers understand the implications of the reported event.
  • Judging will be based on the timeliness, relevance, depth of reporting, and impact on the tourism industry.
  • Entries provided must have appeared in print or online between 1 January 2023 and 30 January 2024.

For more information, visit ATW.