Travel

Guidelines for the 2016 Narrative Travel Writing Contest

TransitionsAbroad invites you to enter its 2016 Narrative Travel Writing Contest with a $500 first-place prize and no fee for entry.

Professionals, freelancers, and aspiring travel writers are invited to write an article which describes how traveling in a slower manner and attempting to adapt to the space and time of locals, their culture, and their land has deepened your experience of both the people and the destination. One of the results of a slower form of immersion travel is the experience of epiphanies that change one's perceptions of the world, of others, and of oneself. We urge you to translate one or more of those moments into a narrative which will convey this view to many who still tend to see travel as a way to do as many countries, cities, and continents in the world as possible as if travel was some form of competition or consumption.

Rather than seeing travel as competition or a materialistic exercise in one-upmanship, Transitions Abroad has always observed that more experienced travelers and travel writers seek to engage more deeply in a destination by staying for a longer period and thereby immerse themselves in the culture and homes they are fortunate enough to visit as guests. Learning to ask questions, share stories sad and humorous, cook, learn a craft or language, work, volunteer, and participate in other daily activities or rituals is one way to deepen the travel experience and transform it into a two-way street in the process. The Slow Food movement born in Italy and the aesthetic spirit of the Slow Movement are a manifestation of the urge now felt by many more travelers to participate in the daily lives of the host community and not simply as consumers of their culture and land.

We are not looking for destination pieces that describe in flowery amazing terms your experience, moralistic essays on the pros and cons of a postmodernist view of travel, nor are we looking for travelogues or blog-like posts that are often too overly personal and self-involved to resonate with others on their own paths of discovery. We are looking for well-written inspirational pieces that will lead others to experience the sense of engagement as a global citizen. We are looking for a more universal I and not the personal I in a narrative voice after all, the universal I is a huge component in all great (travel) literature that stands the test of time across cultures.

Accompanying photos that enhance the narrative are highly preferred, as the visual often adds a substantial component to a travel narrative on the web. Photojournalistic essays or accompanying videos will also be considered, and gentle (self)irony or humor is always appreciated.

Please include an optional bio of 1-3 sentences which reference your websites, blogs, books, and contact information in the body of the submission. We can include 1 link in the final winning version.

TransitionsAbroad will publish the top three winners' entries as well as those of the selected runner-ups. See past contests for examples.

Notification of your participation in the contest via Twitter, Facebook, or other social networking sites would be appreciated (see our links/buttons at the top and bottom of this page).