Travel writing contests around the web

My inbox has been busy recently with announcements for various travel-writing contests. I don’t have a lot of insider information on these, but I’ll share what I know:

Gather.com Travel Writing Contest

  • Rules: Submit an original, first person, previously unpublished, non-fiction travel story. Supporting photos (in jpeg format) are encouraged (but not required) to illustrate the story and increase the impact of the entry. Entries should not exceed 3,000 words. Only U.S. residents are eligible, and submissions are welcome from professionals, freelancers, aspiring writers, and any adventurer with a travel tale to tell. Stories will be judged based on the following criteria: Quality of writing; ability to engage the reader; originality of the author’s voice; inclusion of details of specific destinations visited; unique destination and/or travel circumstance.
  • Deadline: Monday, April 17, 2006
  • Prize: The Grand Prize Winner will embark on a 7-night journey from Barcelona to Lisbon, courtesy of Priceline Cruises, aboard Windstar’s Wind Spirit ship ($7500 approx. retail value). The story will be published on the Gather.com homepage. Winner will be announced in a press release and on Gather.com on Monday, May 1, 2006.
  • More information: Travelwriting.gather.com

Travel and Transitions Story Contest

  • Rules: Submit your own travel experiences, in story or in diary form: travelogues and regional travel experiences; your experiences living, working, studying, volunteering abroad; stories about expatriate life, adjusting to a new culture, culture shock; humorous or inspirational travel stories; stories of how travel changed your life, and so on. Stories should be between 500 and 2000 words in length. Please send your stories as an MS Word attachment or as part of the email. Digital pictures illustrating your travel experience are welcome. You can send more than one story; each contest entry will be judged on its own merit. Full rules here.
  • Deadline: August 31, 2006
  • Prize: The grand prize is an Amazon Expedition Cruise aboard the famous M/S Explorer expedition cruise ship, owned and operated by G.A.P Adventures.
  • More information: www.travelandtransitions.com/contests

Posted by | Comments (2)  | March 21, 2006
Category: Travel News


2 Responses to “Travel writing contests around the web”

  1. John Dillon Says:

    During my eighteen-month visit, I had traveled all over Israel, visiting holy sites, archaeological digs, Roman arenas and Crusader castles. My favorite place outside the kibbutz was the old city of Jerusalem. Many Christian sects had churches there. Priests in long black robes walked up and down the narrow alleyways, mumbling prayers in many languages.
    On Sundays, processions of the faithful prayed aloud in the streets of the old city. In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, I visited five ‘true’ tombs of Christ. Jesus worked miracles, but I could not imagine him replicating his corpse to satisfy the claims of the various denominations.
    I was standing at the foot of the Via Dolorosa — The Way of Sorrow — in the old city of Jerusalem, just before Good Friday in 1978. A bald-headed Jesuit priest in an itchy-looking brown woolen robe approached me. Dangling on his chest, at the end of a rust-colored length of twine, was a carved ivory crucifix. In a broad Irish accent he asked “Ir ye a Kafflic?” Though brought up Catholic, I was a confirmed atheist. I thought he was proselytizing. To avoid arguing with him about God and the church, I answered, “Aye,” hoping that would end our conversation.
    “Will ye carry the crucifix up the Stations of the Cross?” I started to say no, then I thought, ‘Jesus Christ, John, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. What a tale to tell my children.’ I gushed, “Och, I would love to do that, as long it’s not too heavy.”
    A balsa wood crucifix – supposedly an exact replica of the one Christ carried –with small wheel attached to the long end, was placed on my shoulder. Jauntily testing the weight and enjoying the jealous stares of the devout, I turned to my Jesuit friend and asked him, “You’re no going to stick nails in me are ye?” His eyes darkened and he said, “This is indeed a great honor the church is bestowing on you. Don’t let the divil take hold of your tongue again.”
    Suitably chastised, off I went up the winding path of the Via Dolorosa, me, a wee boy from Scotland with a wheeled crucifix on my shoulder, trailing pilgrims, tourists and the clergy behind me.

  2. BookRix Says:

    Free Writing Contest:

    $1.800,00 cash, Amazon vouchers, “fame!” and much more: https://www.bookrix.com/precontest.html?show=BX_1256740851

    Good luck to all! 🙂