A bit of good news

For the past two years I have been a member of an organization called the North American Travel Journalists Association. Each year I have entered their annual writing competition, in the categories for travel trade writing.

In 2008 I submitted two articles and I won First Place for the article I submitted in the Tips & Advice for the Trade category. I won a three-night stay at Mohegan Sun, with food credits. It was great fun!

This year, I again submitted two articles, both in the general Trade category. Two days ago I found out that I "won" a Merit Award (basically honorable) mention for one of the articles.

Of course, I'm conflicted about the win.

In 2008, I truly won. This year (being 2009) I only got honorable mention. Yes, that's still a high honor. There were two First Place winners and two Merit Award winners, and I'm sure there were more entrants than than, so my article was still picked as one of the best out of a larger field. So I should be pleased.

And I am. It's another notch on my travel publishing belt, another bullet point on my resume.

But I'm not going to lie and say I don't care that didn't First Place. Of course I care. I'd much rather have won First Place (and a prize).

Oh well, there's always next year. ;)