PASADENA, CA-- The North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) today announced that SOUTH COUNTY TOURISM COUNCIL, SOUTH COUNTY STYLE VACATION GUIDE won GOLD place in the 2012 Annual NATJA Awards Competition in the Visitors’ Guide – Marketing Budget Less than $400,000 category! This awards competition, now in its 21st year, honors the “best of the best” in travel writing, photography and promotion that cover all aspects of the travel industry worldwide.  

NATJA Awards recognize excellence in travel writing, photojournalism, social media, multimedia platforms, advertising, marketing and public relations for the travel and tourism industry. This year, NATJA received more than 500 submissions from all over the world.

“This year’s entries were outstanding, both in quality of the journalism, excellence and range of coverage,” said Helen Hernandez, CEO of the organization. “The creativity is reflective of the vibrancy of the travel journalists’ community and destination marketing organizations. The winners transported the reader through evocative storytelling and spell-binding photography.”

Myrna George, president & CEO of South County Tourism Council, also the editor and publisher of Style, recognized the 2012 NATJA award stating: “South County Tourism Council produces STYLE in-house thanks to the dedication of two full time and two part time employees, enhanced by the support of our local photographers, who together create brilliant visuals and voice capturing our ‘unique sense of place’!  On their behalf, I thank NATJA for this honor.”

South County Tourism Council has received recognition from NATJA in 2008 and 2010 for Style.  In 2011 they received the Gold award for their mobile website titled:  Beautiful South County. 

NATJA is the second largest travel media association in North America. Members include travel media professionals, convention and visitors bureaus, social media, hotels and attractions, and other travel marketing agencies. Members are provided with professional development workshops, peer-to-peer evaluation, web tools and networking opportunities. NATJA also publishes TravelWorld International Magazine (www.travelworldmagazine.com).

For more information about NATJA or a complete list of 2012 award winners, visit www.natja.org.