Of all the past travel writing contests, this was the most difficult year to narrow down the entries to the top three winners. We initially selected 11 from over 100 entries. One entry stood out from the others and was the unanimous choice for our top spot.
After discussion among the three judges – the three top entries are:
Bring Adventure Back to Europe, by Richard Bangs
Without An Address, You Can’t Go Home, by Tom Bentley
Pie-eyed for Pizza A Love Story, by Kate Silver
Honorable Mentions
Death in Africa by Richard Bangs
Virginia is for Foodies by Allison Tibaldi
Afghanistan Exposed by Savannah Grace
Finding Inspiration among the Redwoods by Bonnie EtheringtonAgain, a big thank you to all contestants as well as to the companies/individuals who donated prizes. See you next year!
(3/1/13) Looking to share your travels with others? Do you enjoy writing? Look no further. Dave’s Travel Corner is holding its annual travel essay writing contest. Entry is free.
Enter and have the possibility of winning prizes as well as gain additional exposure for your writing. Please see below for details.
Please include your email address or some form of contact information with your submission. This information will not be posted with your essay; it is so we can contact you in case you win.
Content
The essay must be written by you and it must be about something that inspired you on one of your travels. It could be about a particular place, a person, a country, a culture or any other number of things that may have touched you on your travels.
Possible topics could include: Adventure & Outdoor Travel, Arts and Culture, Backpacker oriented, Couples travel, Cultural, Destination focused, Eco Tourism, a personal trip, Food and Wine, Romance or Urban Travel.
First-person travel stories should give one a sense of place and richness of experience – just listing where you have been, what you have done can be interesting but are generally not winning entries.
Please fact check any relevant details prior to submitting
Requirements
At least 775 words – no more than 5000 words. Up to two (2) essays may be submitted per person. Essays or blogs already posted on Dave’s Travel Corner are not eligible for this contest. Content published elsewhere that does not violate any copyright by posting them on Dave’s Travel Corner are eligible for the contest.
Prizes
The grand prize winner will be awarded
1. $150 sent by PayPal or Money Order
2. Gift certificate for a two night stay at one of the following Heritage properties in New Mexico, USA (Value: up to $400):
Hotel St. Francis www.hotelstfrancis.com
Hotel Chimayo de Santa Fe www.hotelchimayo.com
Lodge at Santa Fe www.lodgeatsantafe.com
Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town www.hotelabq.com
Nativo Lodge www.nativolodge.com
Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces www.hotelencanto.com
3. 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Arns Winery (Suggested Retail: $90 – Winner must be 21+ years of age)
4. Two travel books offered from a list
1st Runner Up will be awarded
1. $100 sent by PayPal or Money Order
2. One Vegas.com Chip Set
3. Two travel books offered from a list
2nd Runner Up will be awarded
1. $75 sent by PayPal or Money Order
2. Charles Krug, Napa Valley, One bottle, Chocolate Port Wine Sauce (Value: $20 – Winner must be 21+ years of age)
3. Two Sour Punch candy snack bags
4. i1015 Pelican Adventure Case for the iPhone (Value $30)
5. Two travel books offered from a list
A collection of mostly new travel books will be offered to all winners in the form of a list – each winner will choose two (2) books starting with the grand prize winner. These books will then be mailed to a provided address.
The prize winners will be listed on the main page of Dave’s Travel Corner – with links to their winning essays listed on the Journals section of the site.
Submit by Creating Account
1. Register: https://www.davestravelcorner.com/wp-blog/wp-login.php?action=register
Fill out your desired username and email and then click submit. Note. Spaces in usernames are not allowed. When logged in you, you can change your “display” name to whatever you like, spaces are ok there.
2. Check your email for the login link, your login name and randomly generated password (you can change this later) or login here: https://www.davestravelcorner.com/wp-blog/wp-login.php
3. Once logged in you will be prompted at the top of the page to edit your profile (also change your password) – when finished click on “update profile” at the bottom of the page
4. In left hand column, click “posts” and then click “add new”
5. On the page that loads, enter the following
– Title
– Add your piece into the body (copy it in is fine)
– On far right side – choose ONE appropriate category by checking the appropriate box
– Underneath the body, fill in the following fields: A. Focus Keyword B. SEO Title and C. Meta Description – (You can add the title of your piece into all three of these boxes)
6. Click the blue button on the upper right of the page that says, “Submit for Review”. That is it! We post your piece live typically within 24 hours.
Submit Manually
Submit your stories by emailing your post along with any photos in a Microsoft Wordtm format to Editor
For manual submissions, please include your email address or some form of contact information with your submission.
We recommend a photo size no more than 600 pixels in width – and if you want the photos embedded within paragraphs we recommend a size no higher than 500 pixels in width.
Other Details
Journals may be submitted to minor grammar and editing before being posted. We encourage photos to be included with your entry(s) but a lack of photos does not factor in the contest decision making. Note that 600 pixels is the maximum width recommended for any uploaded stand alone photos or if photos are to be embedded within the content 500 pixels is the recommended maximum width. If no photos are included we may add one related photo.
NOTE: Submissions with links to commercial websites will either not be approved or the links will be removed. A link to a personal website is fine.
Any entries that are submitted and then approved for the contest will be posted on our Journals page. Once posted your essay remains your property – it will only be posted on our site.
Record your own Video! (Optional)
Record a video message to accompany your submission. Make it fun! It can be an intro about the topic of your post – it will be embedded in your post. Click to record your own, 300 seconds max. We will be notified of any video’s created.
Deadline
Your essay must be submitted by July 1, 2013. Winners will be announced on Dave’s Travel Corner on August 1, 2013.
About Dave's Travel Corner
Dave's Travel Corner is a travel content, resource provider and community (founded 1996) providing travel Guides written about Dave's personal travel experiences and Journals, pages that contain trip summaries and experiences written by fellow travelers. We spotlight locations and attractions with an article linked directly from our homepage including content across our blog, photo and video galleries. We use a combination of social media, written content, photography and videos to promote locations. Not only does the content appear on this site but we have direct partnerships with other well visited travel sites for placement of the content. Since 1996, we have also established hundreds of relevant link exchanges with other travel sites.
Visitors to Dave's Travel Corner will also find thousands of travel related links organized by categories on the Resources Page, a Photo Gallery containing International travel photos, Book Reviews, and Product Reviews focusing on products useful for travelers, fully automated Forums, Tour Bookings offering over 4400 unique tours around the globe, Interviews with those making news in the travel industry and Videos - specializing in International travel videos as well as home of the Dave & Jim Show.
Dave's own travel blog is Above the Clouds which focuses on International Travel & Lifestyle.
For information on advertising please choose from a variety of advertising options here.
Contributors are welcome
Learn how you can contribute About www.davestravelcorner.com/about
Hi. Is this contest still open for the 2014-2015 year? I see that the deadline is updated. Thank you 🙂
how do you sign up?
Ava – this is an older post about a prior contest – we will be hopefully holding one later this year. Look for details on that!