About VirtualTourist| VirtualTourist Travel Page Contest Results | |
"The pages are so consistently good, that I don't think anyone could really go wrong no matter which ones they choose"--John Garrett, Travel Page Contest Judge. VirtualTourist features over 140,000 glorious travel pages with over 900,000 photographs, in over 220 countries and territories. In June, we asked 5000 top ranked members to nominate three choices for our panel of judges--travel writers and editors from The Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, Travel Channel, and more. As one judge put it, 'it was an exceedingly difficult task to choose a Top 3." Nonetheless, they've fulfilled their task admirably and now the results are in. Additionally, we asked VT members to make their own selections for a kind of member's choice awards. | The Judges Selections and VT Member's Choices: | |
We are very pleased to present the selections from among the superb nominations. Congratulations to all, and keep your eyes out for the next VT contests and don't forget the over 1,000 pages nominated by VT members
1st Place. & VT Member's Choice, 2nd Place The Charm of Paris Stays in Its History by Guyon "You cannot imagine the number of sorts of mustards it can exist. A Frenchman finds it is a curious idea to bring a mustard pot as a gift and to ask the employee to wrap it. My preferite pickles are small and crunchy. So, I do not like the American ones."Judge's Comments: 'So much information that I felt I could plan a trip to Paris without using another resource. Lots of good insider tips, and excellent photos.'
2nd Place Lochlainn's ould Dublin page by Lochlainn "Dublin after all is the capital of a whole country sharing the same premise, namely that: a) everybody loves us no matter what BS we feed them and b) sure we might as well make a few bob out of them."Judge's Comments:' Excellent guidance. Lochlainn's travels must surely have taken him to the Blarney Stone.'
3rd PlaceLondon - City of Secrets by KennetRose "If you want good F'n'C (fish & chips), avoid anywhere with tired looking fish ...And give a very wide berth to any establishment displaying a Union Jack."Judges Comments: 'KennetRose deserves a special mention for the writing on the London pages. She has a great sense of humor.'
VT Member's Choice, 1st Place Istanbul, the City of the 3 Names by SirRichard " "I still can remember the first time I saw the other shore of the Bosforus, thinking: 'Here starts Asia, out there is Beijing, India, the Silk Road...' The more I come here, the more the city captivates me, and I'll keep coming, I promise!"Judges Comments: 'Excellent Information, and a lot of it, with superb illustrations. Photos were great and his watercolors set these pages apart.'
VT Member's Choice, 3rd Place Local in New York City (2002/2003)by Tamirros "When I first came to NYC as a tourist, it was almost impossible to ignore the people in the subway. I wanted to stare. I wanted to take pictures...Now, as a local, I found out that I have become very impatient to people who stare at me... (am I strange?)Judge's Comments: 'What a fine a page! Basically tied with the others. You've made this very hard deciding.'
Vancouver - A Local's Perspective by Carmanah "Vansterdam. Yes, that's right... a not so clever pun combining Vancouver with Amsterdam. Apparently Vancouver has some of the best quality marijuana in the world. Vancouver's very liberal with marijuana, and while It's not legal here yet, there are a few coffee shops and stores which encourage it to be smoked. "Judges Comment: 'Top Quality writing. I really enjoyed this page and voted it #2.'
A Practical And Peculiar Guide To The Netherlands! by ATLC "So you're at the home of a Dutch family at about 1800 hours which is dinner time. You get a plate of vegs, potatoes, meat and gravy. To your horror you see everyone pick up their fork, move it to their right hand and start mashing up the food on their plate. This is called PRAKKEN."Judges Comments: 'An excellent page in every way. I've voted this page #1'
Chiang Mai by SumTingWong "Yes, you may have the pleasure to use the Thai people toilet, ie. the squatter. These may look extremely unappealing at first, but you should love them by the end! You should know how to use them so you know what you're doing when that time comes when you are up against one. Well here it goes..." Judges Comment: 'A great page, that was just one point behind my other choices, after counting up my tied votes again and again.'
Athens, My City! by AndyRG "Rembetiko music, the 'greek blues', began at the coasts of Asia Minor at the beginning of the 20th century, when Greeks were still living there. It was considered an underground kind of music, as it was mostly listened to by drug addicts, alcoholics, marginal groups."Judges Comments: 'AndyRG deserves a special mention for the wonderful photos on his Athens pages.'
Bhuj & The Rann of Khachchh by Canadienne "The Dhoramnath Monastery hadn't had any guests in half a year...so our welcome was amazing! Word of our visit even "leaked out" to some neighbours and we had extra guests to watch our badminton game in the evening."
Judges Comment: 'Beautiful scenery and interesting travels. Great.'
| Peter Greenberg--Chief Correspondent, Travel Channel | | | Peter Greenberg is Travel Channel’s Chief Correspondent and is considered the nation's preeminent expert on travel and travel related issues. Best known as the Travel Editor for NBC's TODAY Show, the Emmy-award winning writer and producer is also the author of the recent New York Times bestseller, The Travel Detective, which reveals the secrets the airlines, hotels, cruise lines and rental car agencies don't want revealed. Greenberg also writes an online column for msnbc.com, is a regular contributor on KABC, and appears regularly on The Oprah Winfrey Show. In addition, he is a travel editor for UPN News in Los Angeles, and a contributing editor for Avenues magazine. Visit Mr. Greenberg's website at Travel Channel. |
| Rudy Maxa-- The Savvy Traveler | | | Rudy Maxa is one of America’s premier consumer travel experts whose writings and radio and television shows have helped save thousands of travelers both time and money. A former Washington Post investigative reporter and life-long traveler, Rudy began covering the travel industry 13 years ago for public radio’s evening business show, “Marketplace” where his bi-weekly commentaries under his moniker, “The Savvy Traveler,” are currently heard by nearly five million listeners. His "Marketplace" appearances led to the creation of a one-hour, weekend version of "The Savvy Traveler," that Rudy hosted from its inception in 1997 until the summer of 2001. He remains the show’s “expert in residence” and can be heard on nearly 200 public radio stations each weekend in the US. Visit Mr. Maxa's website. |
| Randy Curwen--Travel Editor, Chicago Tribune | | | Randy Curwen, who has traveled more than a million miles to some 100 countries, has been travel editor of the Chicago Tribune for 10 1/2 years. Before that, he was editor of the weekend section and the daily features section. He is a native of Wisconsin. Visit Mr. Curwen's Travel Section at the Chicago Tribune. |
| Michael Shapiro--Travel Journalist, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, more.... | | | Michael Shapiro is a travel journalist whose work appears in newspapers including The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Dallas Morning News. He writes the TravelTech column for the San Francisco Chronicle, which appears the first Sunday of each month. Visit Mr. Shapiro's website |
| Larry Bleiberg--Travel Editor,The Dallas Morning News | | | Larry Bleiberg is the Travel editor of the The Dallas Morning News, which was named best section in North America in 2002 for newspapers over 500,000 circulation. He has won numerous regional, national and international photography and writing awards including honorable mention as Travel Journalist of the Year in 2001. Visit Mr. Bleiberg's Travel Section at the Dallas Morning News |
| Doug Lansky--Travel Writer, Savvy Traveler, RoughGuide more.. | | | Travel Writer Doug Lansky has taught journalism at Colorado College, wrote a nationally syndicated column that grew to reach over 10 million readers in 40 major newspapers (including The San Francisco Chronicle, The Denver Post, The Detroit Free Press, and many more), published several books, hosted an hour long travel documentary for the Discovery Channel/Travel Channel, and is continuing to serve as the regular world-travel expert on US National Public Radio's flagship travel program, Savvy Traveler. He recently released his book, First Time: Around The World, a comprehensive (yet delightfully readable) guide to the ultimate journey. To date, he has been on the road for roughly 10 years in over 100 countries. Visit Mr. Lansky's Website |
| Tim Winship--Editor and Publisher, FrequentFlier.com | | | Tim Winship is a nationally recognized authority on frequent flier programs. He gained his mileage smarts both as a frequent business traveler himself, and from the inside out, as a former travel-industry marketing executive who spent 20 years developing and managing frequent traveler programs for airlines and hotels.Tim is currently the editor and publisher of FrequentFlier.com and the weekly FrequentFlier Crier e-mail newsletter. He's a contributing editor for Smarter Living and OAG Frequent Flyer magazine. And he writes the syndicated monthly newspaper column, "The Extra Mile." Visit Mr. Winship's Website |
| John Garrett--Columnist, The Press Enterprise | | | John Garrett, a native of Columbus, Ga, was a sports writer and sports editor in Atlanta, Sarasota, Fla. and Riverside, Calif., for more than 40 years. In August, 1995, he launched the Online Traveler column at the Press-Enterprise newspaper when the Web was in its infancy. He retired as sports editor of The Press-Enterprise in Riverside in 2000, but continues to write the Online Traveler column from his retirement home on the Coosawatee River in the North Georgia mountains. Visit Mr. Garrett's Column |
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