For immediate release: March 4, 2021 

Charlestown, R.I. – The North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) announced that South County Tourism Council (SCTC) won a Bronze (3rd place) in the Destination Video category and an honorable mention in the Destination Visitor’s Guide category in 2020 Annual NATJA Awards Competition. The “Find Your Way Back” video the council produced during the COVID pandemic to promote safe travel to South County was one of the ways South County stayed in the forefront during a time when many in the tourism industry went dark. The bronze award-winning video can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/421140284.

The council also won an honorable mention for their 2020 South County Visitor’s Guide. The guide, printed on recycled paper features beautiful images collected mostly through their annual photo contest, maps and well-presented information on where to stay, what to do and more when you visit the area.

“We are honored to receive these awards and want to thank NATJA for the recognition,” says Louise Bishop, President of South County Tourism Council.

NATJA Awards, in their 29th year, recognize excellence in travel writing, photojournalism, social media, video, multimedia platforms, advertising, marketing and public relations for the travel and tourism industry.

“The past year has been one of the most challenging and tragic years within memory. Necessarily, the travel and tourism industries were substantially shut down, and while we are cheered by early signs of recovery, we are all aware losses and challenges will continue to mount for some time,” noted Helen Hernandez, CEO of NATJA. “Yet, despite this landscape of loss, NATJA members and others not yet part of our NATJA family, have sucked it up, made needed adjustments, and produced a remarkable body of work. Many submitted their work in this year’s competition, and we are well satisfied–though not surprised–to see that the range and quality of submissions have increased, and the bar for this year’s awards is the highest we have seen over the last twenty-nine years of the NATJA Award’s existence. Thank you to all who submitted in this difficult year for your efforts. We hope you will celebrate with us this year’s winners.”

Founded in 1991, NATJA is a travel journalism industry leader that fosters high quality journalism by supporting the professional development of its members, providing exceptional program benefits and valuable resources, honoring the excellence of journalism throughout the world, and promoting travel and leisure to the general public. NATJA also publishes TravelWorld International Magazine (www.travelworldmagazine.com).

For more information about NATJA or a complete list of 2020 award winners and finalists, visit www.natja.org.

The South County Tourism Council is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the towns of Charlestown, Coventry, East Greenwich, Exeter, Hopkinton, Narragansett, North Kingstown, Richmond, South Kingstown, West Greenwich and Westerly as a single leisure travel destination known as “South County”.  For more information, please visit www.southcountyri.com