Transitions Abroad has selected the 2008 Narrative Travel Writing Contest winners.

Alexander Breimann wrote the first place story on the topic of the “intrinsic educational aspects of meaningful travel”. His story, “Education from the Streets of Giza”, is a beautiful tale celebrating life in Cairo and discoveries about life and death, wisdom and knowledge.

Second place was a tie between Alan Drop’s account of living in Northern Norway in “The Aesthetics of the Empty Landscape” and “Pray That the Road is Long” by Luke Rodehorst, recounting his time in Guatemala.

There is still plenty of time to start writing for the 2009 contest- entries are due October 31, 2008. Prizes range from $500 for first place to $50 for a runner-up entry.

The 2009 contest theme is “Travel in a Dangerous World”. The site says “We are looking for stories written by authors who have taken a risk — or been told that they were taking a risk — when traveling overseas.” The contest theme encourages writers to explore the issue of whether the world is actually becoming more dangerous or if if is an illusion of danger created by mass media. The site notes that they are not seeking submissions that objectify people in the form of “poverty tourism” or “poorism”, but all other entries are welcome. And, judging by the crop of 2008 entries, there will be a lot of competition, so why not start writing now?