PASADENA, CA– The North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) recently announced that I won Bronze place in the 2013 Annual NATJA Awards Competition in the Personality Profiles category! (My submission, Becoming Mahout, was originally published in Perceptive Travel, and came out of my experience working with mahouts at the Maetaeng Elephant Conservation Center in Thailand last year). This awards competition, now in its 22nd year, honors the best in photography and promotion that cover all aspects of the travel industry worldwide. NATJA Awards recognize excellence in travel writing, photojournalism, social media, multimedia platforms, advertising, marketing and public relations for the travel and tourism industry. This year, NATJA received 600 submissions from all over the world.

“This year’s entries were an outstanding mix of local and international stories with dynamic and creative elements that provided the visual through words or photography to transport the reader to the destination,” said Helen Hernandez, CEO of the organization. “The judging has become increasingly difficult every year given the abundance of talent in the travel journalism community.”

NATJA is the second largest travel media association in North America. Members include travel media professionals, convention and visitors bureaus, social media, hotels and attractions, and other travel marketing agencies. Members are provided with professional development workshops, peer-to-peer evaluation, web tools and networking opportunities. NATJA also publishes TravelWorld International Magazine.

For more information about NATJA or a complete list of 2013 award winners and finalists, visit www.natja.org.

Congratulations to all the winners!

–Kristin