London, 17 November, 2020: Ten entries, featuring notable explanatory and investigative travel reporting on the global COVID-19 pandemic, are among the winners of the 2020 Business Travel Journalism Awards, which honor journalists from national, consumer, broadcast, and trade media.
Ben Slater, a staff writer for Which? Travel, won Scoop of the Year for a revelatory piece and subsequent social campaign, exposing travel companies not adhering to refunds for bookings due to COVID-19. A team of reporters for BTN won for their breadth of analytically geared reporting and the ingenious launch of digital products to support their evolving reader’s needs, throughout the pandemic. Francesca Street of CNN was honored for her insightful look at the application of technology and data to improving the travel experience.
Awards also went to journalist newcomer, Holly Patrick at Meetings & Incentive Travel, for her keen eye for detail and writing flare, and Gill Upton, freelance contributor for The Business Travel Magazine, for her entries in both the technology and the ground transportation feature categories.
Winners Trevor Baker and Jo Rhodes saw the Which? Travel team scoop a hat-trick of awards this year, respectively for their accommodation and air-related features, whilst Hannah Brandler of Business Traveller was a first-time winner for her Philadelphia destination feature. For the second year in a row, Andy Hoskins, BTN Editor in Chief, scooped the editor of the year award.
"2020’s global travel upheavals have certainly brought out the best in business travel journalism,” said Julian Walker, CWT’s Head of External Market Communications. “The talented and diverse writers highlight the critical importance of informed journalism - both on urgent issues of the day and on efforts to understand the complexity and evolution of the business travel industry. Our congratulations and thanks to everyone involved.”
Administered and curated by CWT, the BTJAs recognize distinguished business travel as well as meetings and events reporting for a general audience. Now in its 17th year and open to journalists worldwide, the BTJAs saw a 22% increase in entries versus last year, submitted from across four continents, with the winners judged by an expert judging panel of business travel and meetings managers, industry experts, and respected editors.
The full list of 2020 BTJA winners are:
- Best Journalist - Newcomer: Holly Patrick, Meetings & Incentive Travel
- Editor of the Year: Andy Hoskins, BTN
- Editorial team of the Year: BTN
- Features Journalist of the Year (Accommodation): Trevor Baker, Which? Travel
- Features Journalist of the Year (Air): Jo Rhodes, Which? Travel
- Features Journalist of the Year (Destination): Hannah Brandler, Business Traveller
- Features Journalist of the Year (Ground Transportation): Gill Upton, The Business Travel Magazine - freelance contributor
- Features Journalist of the Year (Industry Trends): Francesca Street,CNN - freelance digital producer
- Features Journalist of the Year (Technology): Gill Upton, The Business Travel Magazine - freelance contributor
- Scoop of the Year: Ben Slater, Which? Travel
About CWT
CWT is a Business-to-Business-for-Employees (B2B4E) travel management platform. Companies and governments rely on us to keep their people connected – anywhere, anytime, anyhow – and across six continents, we provide their employees with innovative technology and an efficient, safe and secure travel experience.
