OUTSTANDING CANADIAN TRAVEL JOURNALISTS CELEBRATED AT CARIBBEAN WEEK CANADA
~ Caribbean Tourism Organization presents awards to top travel journalists for exceptional coverage of the Caribbean ~
Award winners from left: Jim Byers, Jo Matyas, Ilona Kauremszky, (CTO SG) Hugh Riley, Sharon Matthews-Stevens & Mark Stevens. Missing from photo are Melanie Reffes and Hélène Clément
TORONTO, Canada, 17 Nov, 2015 – Some of Canada’s top travel writers and photographers were celebrated at an exclusive event here in recognition of their outstanding coverage of the Caribbean region.
The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), the region’s tourism development agency, presented awards to seven journalists for the exceptional role they played in 2014 in driving Caribbean tourism through their coverage of the region.
“Canada remains an important market for the Caribbean. Of course, as the US dollar made gains against the Canadian dollar, travel to the Caribbean by Canadians became relatively more expensive since many of the regional currencies are pegged to the US dollar. However, for the first half of the year more Canadian tourists visited the Caribbean month-over-month without exception up to the end of June,” CTO secretary general Hugh Riley said.
An estimated 2.1 million Canadians visited the region during the first half of the year, with Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica the dominant destinations, while several other destinations with smaller market shares have emerged with the best performances.
The awards were presented at the CTO Travel Media Awards Luncheon, which formed part of the organization’s Caribbean Tourism Awards programme, at Rosewater on Tuesday 17 November, as part of the programme of activities for Caribbean Week Canada.
The following are the winners:
Been There, Wrote That – Best Feature Article In A Consumer Magazine
Josephine Matyas– Living in the Past (Nevis) – Doctor’s Review
I Couldn’t Have Written Better Myself – Best Feature In A Consumer Newspaper
Hélène Clément – St-Pierre Ressuscitée (Martinique)- Le Devoir
Inner Circle Queen– Best Feature Article In A Trade Publication
Ilona Kauremszky- A New St. Kitts- Travel Industry Today
Virtual Visitor Award – Best Online Feature
Jim Byers – St. Lucia: Romance is a Caribbean cocktail of flowers, sea breeze – The Star
Not Lost in Translation (Best Feature by a Canadian Journalist that appeared in Foreign Consumer Media)
Mark Stevens – Martinique: The Belle Island – All At Sea
Not Lost in Translation (Best Feature by a Canadian Journalist that appeared in Foreign Trade Media)
Melanie Reffes – Pretty in Puerto Rico – Jax Fax
Oh Snap!– Best Photograph accompanying a feature
Sharon Matthews-Stevens- The Other Virgin Islands (St. John’s, USVI) – Canadian Yachting
They Like Me, They Really Like Me! – Best of the Best
Josephine Matyas– Living in the Past (Nevis) – Doctor’s Review
Some 70 entries were received this year’s awards which were judged by a panel of media and public relations experts led by chief judge, Tim Doyle, a Toronto-based writer, editor and media executive who helped drive the digital transformation of many of Canada’s major newsrooms. The remaining judges were Elizabeth Kerr who has been in the magazine publishing industry for over 20 years as owner/publisher of Canadian Yachting, – Canada’s only national boating lifestyle magazine; Anna Hobbs, one of the founding editors of Canadian Living, which became Canada’s leading family magazine; Jeff Lake, managing partner and senior vice president of Punch Canada, an award-winning public relations firm; Jayne Lloyd-Jones, co-founder of the public relations firm, Spectacular Ink and Gaven Dumont, senior managing partner at The Montréal Office, a public relations and brand management company.
Caribbean Week Canada is supported by by Air Canada Vacations, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Caribbean Airlines, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Hibiscus International, Jamaica, Kalinago Beach Resort (Grenada), Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, The Atrebor Group, Transat Tours Canada, Trinidad & Tobago and Turks & Caicos.
