Best Family Feature • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Darcy Rhyno – “Rekindling Romance in a Spanish Castle”
Category Sponsor: 
Chelsea Hotel, Toronto

Published in – Chronicle Herald – February 13-14, 2015

Rekindling Romance in a Medieval Spanish Castle

(Castle in Spain can become sweet reality on Catalonian tour)

The advancing storm blackens the sky over the farms and forested hills of the Catalonia countryside in northeastern Spain. From our perch on the stone terrace of Parador Castell de Cardona, my spouse and I sip Rioja wine and watch lightning pierce the darkness over the medieval town below. We’ve travelled here to the little town of Cardona, an hour from...

Best Environmental/Responsible Tourism Feature • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Carol Patterson -"Crocodile Rock" - Red Deer Advocate - February 7, 2015...
Category Sponsor: 
Destination British Columbia

Published in: Red Deer Advocate - February 7, 2017

Corocodile Rock

Costa Rica's 111-kilometer long Tarcoles River is one of the most polluted water bodies in Latin America. Plastic and paper litters the brown water's edge and is embedded in the muddy banks. When seasonal floodwaters recede, ribbons of trash demarcate high water points. Sewage from interior cities and towns drains into the river. It is a horrible place to swim.

But if you are a crocodile the warm, nutrient-rich water are a feeding bonanza. Dozens of American...

Best Outdoors/Adventure Feature • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Janice and George Mucalov -"A Fine Phinisi: the Alila Purnama" ...
Category Sponsor: 
Destination Cape Breton

Published in -  Cruise & Travel Lifestyle Magazine - Fall/Winter 2015

A FINE PHINISI: CRUISING INDONESIA ON THE ALILA PURNAMA

Scuba diving in coral gardens, idyllic beach forays and… OMG, Komodo dragons!  Sailing Indonesia aboard the stylish Alila Purnama is an exercise in adventure.

Scales glinting, the Komodo dragon looks… well… stoned. Never mind that it’s the world’s largest and most lethal lizard – in 2009, two dragons attacked and killed a fisherman when he fell from a wild...

Best Outdoors/Adventure Feature • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Janice and George Mucalov -"A River Safari on the Zambezi Queen"...
Category Sponsor: 
Destination Cape Breton

Published in - Cruise & Travel Lifestyle Magazine - Fall/Winter 2014

A RIVER SAFARI ON THE “ZAMBEZI QUEEN”

There’s nothing quite like an elegant river safari on the Chobe River between Namibia and Botswana. Wake up to grunting hippos, and watch elephants at sunset while sipping champagne.

“See the hippos!” Our guide, Gilbert, points to a jumble of large round boulders in the mud flats. One boulder moves. We make out red-rimmed eyes and little piggy ears. Sure enough, it’s a hippo. It stands up, waddles sideways, and then plops...

Best Outdoors/Adventure Feature • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Debbie Olsen -"Iron Road"...
Category Sponsor: 
Destination Cape Breton

Published in - Red Deer Advocate - July 25, 2015

Iron Road – Via Ferrata

Banff’s new protected climbing route makes mountaineering accessible – even for middle-aged greenhorns.

From a high alpine ridge near the top of Mount Norquay, I could see the snow-dusted craggy peaks of more than a dozen mountains and I couldn’t believe I was standing there. When you reach a certain age, you realize the chances of you ever climbing a mountain are not very good. If you haven’t taken up mountaineering in your first 50 years of...

Best Service Feature • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Carol Perehudoff -"Budapest, Hungary: Taking the Waters in a Steamy Historic City" ...
Category Sponsor: 
TMAC

Published in - Toronto Star - February 19, 2015

Budapest, Hungary: Taking the waters in a steamy historic city

‘Budapest is one of Europe's hottest destinations, and abundant natural springs and historic bathhouses make it even hotter. Here are the best places to soak.’

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY—I used to date a Hungarian. The relationship didn’t last, but my love for Budapest did. Or rather, my love for his dreamy descriptions of it did: the scent of paprika, the gilt and red velvet of the lavish New York Café, the romantic Danube River that...

Best Service Feature • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
John Lee -"Melt your Heart in Cuba"...
Category Sponsor: 
TMAC

Melt Your Heart in Cuba

The rush is on to hit Cuba before the Americans return en masse. But for many Canadians, the cigar-rolling Caribbean hotspot is already their favourite vacation destination. And while some love the convenience of its top-notch all-inclusive resorts, others prefer tapping the real Cuba – and saving a packet in the process.

“Casas particulares  -- private homestays – typically cost $35 to $40 per night,” says Brendan Sainsbury, a B.C.-based author on the new Lonely Planet Cuba guidebook. “They’re a great way to meet Cuban people...

Best Service Feature • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
James Ross -"My Manly Massage in Punta Cana...
Category Sponsor: 
TMAC

Published in -  Vacay Magazine - September 16, 2015

My Manly Massage
“Out of my element and out of my clothes in the Dominican Republic!”

THE MELIA CARIBE TROPICAL, PUNTA CANA - The slippers didn’t fit.  They were more like toe warmers on my size 12 flippers.  My feet hung over the ends, heels dragging along the cool marble tiles as I shuffled my way down to the waiting area.  Speaking of fit, I’m not sure the little, white, terry-cloth bath robe fared much better than the footwear.  On my 6’2” frame it appeared kind of mini,...

Best Food & Drink Feature • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Lisa Jackson -"What It's Like to Brew Beer Under Occupation in the Palestinian Territories"...
Category Sponsor: 
Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism

What It's Like to Brew Beer Under Occupation in the Palestinian Territories

"Checking in for the festival?"

 A man motions me onto a chartered bus, filled with United Nation staffers and their families. There’s no formal diplomacy work happening today. On this Saturday morning, we’re heading from East Jerusalem to the Taybeh Beer Festival—an annual Oktoberfest celebration that attracts approximately 16,000 people from across the world.

I grab a seat on the bus, feeling lucky. I’ve scored a spot through my cousin, an employee of the United Nations...

Best Food & Drink Feature • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Liz Campbell -"Best Food Forward" ...
Category Sponsor: 
Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism

Published in - The Foodservice Consultant - November 2014

BEST FOOD FORWARD

Buffalo became a backwater in the 20th century, but this has allowed many of the city’s iconic architectural gems to remain intact. ________ investigates how renovating these treasures for foodservice usage is creating a gourmet-led revitalisation of the city

Napoleon reputedly said: “An army marches on its stomach.” But so, it appears, does a city. In Buffalo, New York, the march of progress is being led by the stomachs and through these, the...

Best Food & Drink Feature • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Darcy Rhyno – “Cultural Liaisons: Gourmet Fare Builds on Acadian Roots”
Category Sponsor: 
Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism

Published in  – Food & Travel, 2015

Cultural Liaisons: Gourmet fare builds on Acadian roots

“If you come to my house, you can look in my fridge for something to eat.” This is not an invitation. While I have no doubt Irene Maillet-Belley wouldn’t mind a bit if I walked into her kitchen and snacked on her leftover poutine râpée, I’m almost sure she doesn’t mean I should take her words literally.

The statement is more an expression of the warmth and hospitality that’s second nature to Irene and the other people I...

Best Spirit in Canada • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Mark Stevens-"Lest We Forget"...
Category Sponsor: 
Tourism Yukon

Published in -  Roadstories.ca - October 31, 2015

LEST WE FORGET

The first two notes of the “Last Post” comprise the musical interval of an ascending fourth, hopeful bugle tones that are shredded by brutal north winds and muted by a pall of wet snow that enshrouds Ottawa’s National War Memorial on this somber and significant November morning.

Soldiers standing at parade rest on a concrete triangle listen. Young cadets listen. We listen.

And the veterans listen, shivering in winter’s first assault, in the shadow of heavy...

Best Spirit in Canada • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Cinda Chavich -"The Rock of Ages"...
Category Sponsor: 
Tourism Yukon

Published in -  Doctor's Review - May 2015

The Rock of ages

Vikings and fishing villages on a 10-day cruise around Newfoundland

May 2015

Seeing the far-flung corners of Newfoundland has long been on my bucket list — and I’m not alone. Bouncing through the choppy water in a rubber Zodiac, clinging to the yellow nylon rope that snaked behind us, were intrepid travellers from across North America. It was a small, but eclectic group, the kind of fifty-somethings and fit retirees who wanted to do something...

Best Spirit in Canada • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Kat Tancock -"Northern Exposure" ...
Category Sponsor: 
Tourism Yukon

Published in  - The Globe and Mail - August 11, 2015

Northern exposure

A journey up the B.C. coast is a chance to take in some of Canada's most beautiful wilderness – and confront some of our country's turbulent past

"Let’s bring lunch to some friends of mine,” Gordie Graham, the tall, gruff, grey-haired owner of Telegraph Cove Resort, says as he carries a fishing pole, a stick and his tiny dog, Sally, down a steep metal ramp to a waiting boat. The forecast had predicted 11 degrees and drizzle, but there’s...

1st Place winner in Best Cultural/Historical Feature

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Jennifer Foden – “Inked in Thailand”
Category Sponsor: 
Québec City Tourism

Published inGlobal Travel Guide – Fall 2015

[hed] Inked in Thailand
[dek] At the Wat Bang Phra temple near Bangkok, monks design tattoos by reading your aura

I’m sitting on the cool tile floor—some relief from the hot, sticky weather just outside the door. There are upwards of 20 people in the room, but everyone is completely quiet. The only sounds are coming from the deep hum of the overhead fan and the tap, tap, tap of the bamboo stick. I’ve never perfected the art of complete stillness.

This is in stark contrast to the focus of the...

Best People Photo • First Place • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Laurie Carter – “Nuu-chah-nulth Dancer”
Category Sponsor: 
Ontario Parks

Published in Emily Carr's BC: Vancouver Island – May 2015

Best People Photo • Second Place • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Gary Cralle – “Saguenay”
Category Sponsor: 
Ontario Parks

Published in  - Doctor's Review – June 2015

Best People Photo • Other • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Debbie Olsen – “Fishing Buddies”
Category Sponsor: 
Ontario Parks

Published in Red Deer Advocate – January 24, 2015

Best Cultural/Historical Feature • Second Place • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Alyssa Schwartz – “Welcome to Koreatown”
Category Sponsor: 
Québec City Tourism

Published inThe Globe and Mail – January 20, 2015

Welcome to Koreatown: Los Angeles nightlife like you haven’t seen before

Once a no-go zone, the area has evolved into an urban, textured neighbourhood, one visitors aren’t used to seeing in Southern California

It doesn’t get more quintessentially L.A. than the evening a friend, an Angeleno, recently described to me: After catching a movie in Hollywood, she and her son went to Mel’s Drive-In, a diner on the Sunset Strip that’s open round the clock...

Best Cultural/Historical Feature • Other • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Debbie Olsen – “Canada's Da Vinci Code Capital”...
Category Sponsor: 
Québec City Tourism

Published in - – Red Deer Advocate – March 15, 2015

Canada’s Da Vinci Code Capital

Manitoba’s legislative building was designed more than 100 years ago, yet only recently has its freemason heritage and symbolism been discovered.

The Manitoba legislature is one of the last places you would expect to find hieroglyphics, Egyptian sphinxes, a bust of Medusa, Greek gods, hidden symbols and other elements of the occult. But all of those things were hidden in plain sight by the original architect and the builders, who were all freemasons....

Best Family Feature • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Helen Earley – “The Joys of England's Cornish Riviera - Family Luxury on a Britrail Pass” ...
Category Sponsor: 
Chelsea Hotel, Toronto

Published in – Family Fun Canada – October 14, 2015

The Joys of England's Cornish Riviera Express -Family Luxury on a Britrail Pass

My daughter has her nose pressed to the glass and is gazing dreamily out the window at smooth green fields, horses and cows and the occasional clump of trees: gentle, rolling countryside that only England can offer. Suddenly there is a change in pressure, and with a tremendous WHOOSH, everything outside goes black. She turns round, eyes wide, and I reassure her: "we're only going through a tunnel". ZOOM! The outside view reappears and my...

Best Family/Partners Feature • Other • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Helen Earley – “Hiking Toddler-Style: One Kilometre Per Hour on the St. Margaret's Bay Trail” ...
Category Sponsor: 
Chelsea Hotel, Toronto

Published in - – Family Fun Canada – November 25,2015

HIKING TODDLER-STYLE: ONE KILOMETRE PER HOUR ON THE ST. MARGRET’S BAY TRAIL

It's a gorgeous Nova Scotia fall day. My husband and I have planned a brisk family walk along the St. Margaret's Bay 'Rails to Trails' Trail, starting at the former French Village Station in Tantallon. Our 2-year old will soon fall asleep in the Mountain Buggy stroller (we predict) soothed by the fresh autumn air and lulled by the sound of the wheels against gravel. Our plan is to walk for a while, and then at some...

Best Action Photo • First Place • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Arlene Karpan – “Katmai Bear”
Category Sponsor: 
Tourism Victoria

Published in  Western Producer – Aug 27, 2015 

Best Action Photo • Second Place • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
John Sylvester – “Clever Fox”
Category Sponsor: 
Tourism Victoria

Published in – Roots & Folks: Nature – Nov/Dec 2014

Best Action Photo • Other • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Arlene Karpan – “photo Bufflehead Mating Ritual”
Category Sponsor: 
Tourism Victoria

Published in - Western Producer– May 14, 2015

Best French-Language Feature • [node:field-award-placement] • 2015

Award Year: 
2015
Award Recipient: 
Benoit Legault -"Benin: Un course en taxi memorable"...
Category Sponsor: 
Tourisme Iles De La Madeleine

Published in - The Devoir - August 8, 2015

BENIN: A memorable race in a collective taxi

Globetrotters in front of the eternal, they and they do experiments - or non-experiments - of any kind. React to situations that are sometimes surprising, original, unusual, unusual, unexpected. They and they are our tourism journalists who peel the planet to deliver reports. Throughout the summer, you can read selected pieces of cozies lived on the margins of their professional travels.

The Benin. Black Africa, Francophone and...