Rick Steves, whose travel commentaries run on both public television and radio, is the Journalist of the Year in the 2011 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition, sponsored by the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation. Steves also won gold awards for his travel blog and Travel With Rick Steves broadcasts on public radio, and a bronze award for Rick Steves’ Europe: Season Six distributed by American Public Television. “Rick Steves connects with a wide audience today,” the society said in a statement, “sharing his travel adventures and insight in all forms of media from print, radio and television to blogs and tweets.”
Another APT show also scored an honor: Best travel video winner is Richard Bangs’ Adventures with Purpose/Hong Kong.
The awards, widely seen as the most prestigious in travel journalism, were announced at the annual conference of the Society of American Travel Writers, Nov. 7-12 in Wellington, New Zealand.
Here’s a full list of winners, culled from 1,209 entries.