The British Guild of Travel Writers’ event of the year, the BGTW Annual Awards Dinner was held on Monday November 4 2024 at The Bloomsbury Ballroom in central London. Click here to view a selection of photographs from the evening.
The glitzy, fun-filled roaring ‘20s and The Great Gatsby themed event at The Bloomsbury Ballroom in central London drew a large crowd from the country’s travel industry, including BGTW members, national and international editors, journalists and broadcasters. The Guild announced the winners of their two flagship awards programmes, the International Tourism Awards and the Members’ Excellence Awards, during the evening, of which more below.
The theme this year is The Great Gatsby and the venue fits this perfectly. Built in 1926 as the South Ballroom for The Liverpool Friendly Society, The London Cabaret Club now produces evening themed performances in a great setting. And the show for November and December? The Great Gatsby.
Please contact BGTW Administrator, Charlotte Copeman, to request information about next year’s Gala Dinner.
BGTW Gala Dinner
One of the highlights of the travel industry, the BGTW Gala Awards Dinner is a great networking event, bringing together some 200 ambassadors, ministers of state for tourism, PRs, BGTW members along with national and international editors, journalists and bloggers.
There was champagne, a little Broadway-style entertainment with the B-dancers doing the Charleston. Chefs from Long Island worked out a real feast for dinner.
It is also the occasion when the BGTW holds its annual awards ceremony.
Members’ Excellence Awards
We announced the winners of our Members’ Excellence Awards for outstanding writing, photography, blogging and broadcasting published in mainstream national and international media and online. The winners and runners up for each of the awards can be found here.
International Tourism Awards
We also announced our International Tourism Awards in partnership with Cayman Islands Department of Tourism. Nominated by our members, the list is always fascinating and eye-opening.
This year we have schemes nominated from Japan, Portugal, Morocco, the United States as well as the UK, as well as a book. The list of winners and finalists can be viewed here.
It’s the chance for our members to bring often small, little known sights, trails and local initiatives to an international audience. Our nominations have far-reaching effects with much needed publicity.
With special thanks to our partners:
The BGTW would like to thank all its partners for making the event so special: Discover Long Island, Explore Charleston & Discover South Carolina, New York State, Discover Newport & Rhode Island, New England, Cayman Islands Department of Tourism. Visit Scotland, Tourism Gran Canaria, Visit Houston, Tourism Nova Scotia, Travel Switzerland, Cinnamon Hotels, Anguilla Tourist Board, ANTOR, Visit Isle of Man, and made Tourism Marketing.
Work with us at our event of the year in 2025…
As many of you know, every year we celebrate our Members’ Excellence Awards and International Tourism Awards on the eve of WTM London. And just as a reminder, the British Guild of Travel Writers is the UK’s leading membership organisation for travel media with 220+ top-tier travel writers, authors, photographers, bloggers, and broadcasters – so it’s a good well-travelled crowd with fantastic reach.
This year we carried on our tradition in style with our black-tie event and roaring 20s jazzy theme at The Bloomsbury Ballroom including a sparkling networking Champagne reception, sit-down dinner, networking, entertainment, prizes, dancing and more. At the Annual Gala Awards Dinner in 2025, which will be the BGTW’s 65th anniversary, the format for getting your brands involved will be even easier. We will work with various partners on different sections of the evening to give sponsors increased visibility and ROI.
We will have large screens for destination images and video display, on-stage presentation and many other options for our industry friends to get involved in creative ways. There will be opportunities to sponsor parts of the evening and our ITA and MEA awards with bespoke packages including tickets to the event.
Don’t miss out in 2025! Find out more by contacting Renate Ruge by email: [email protected]