Winners announced for Inspire Global Media Awards 2026

Inspire Global is delighted to announce the WINNERS AND HIGHLY COMMENDED for the 4th annual Inspire Global Media Awards 2026. The winners were announced at an exclusive event in London on Monday 13th April 2026.

Les IGMA reconnaissent l'excellence dans le paysage médiatique du voyage, célébrant les individus et les organisations qui donnent vie à des histoires de tourisme durable et à impact positif.

POSITIVE IMPACT OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION

RECOGNITION – Graham Boynton

POSITIVE IMPACT STORYTELLER OF THE YEAR

WINNER – Daniel James Clarke

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Steph Dyson

POSITIVE IMPACT STORY PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

CONSUMER FEATURE OF THE YEAR – UK & IRELAND BASED WRITERS

ENGLAND

WINNER – John Harris pour Wild camping the easy way: how a secret Exmoor trip pleased everyone – including the farmer published in The Guardian

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Yvette Cook pour The sleeper train holiday to Cornwall that doesn’t cost the Earth published in L'indépendant

.

BRITISH ISLES (exc. ENGLAND) & IRELAND

WINNER – Lily Canter pour Is this off-grid Scottish community the ultimate model for sustainable living in Britain today? published in Aventure.com

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Robin McKelvie pour I’ve visited more than 100 countries – but nothing compares to this Scottish island published in Le télégraphe

.

NORDIC REGION

WINNER – Sam Haddad pour Deserted islands, seagrass meadows and endless ocean: kayaking in Sweden’s new marine national park published in The Guardian

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Ailsa Sheldon pour Eating the Archipelago published in Magazine de voyage JRNY

.

EUROPE – WEST/CENTRAL/EAST

WINNER – Yvette Cook pour How women are reviving traditional Seto culture in Estonia published in L'indépendant

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Emma Truscott pour The European bike trail that hits three countries in a day published in BBC Travel

.

MEDITERRANEAN & NORTH AFRICA

WINNER – Daniel Stables pour From kasbahs to couscous—how Sicily has celebrated its diversity through the centuries published in Voyageur National Geographic (Royaume-Uni)

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Jessica Heather pour Far from the crowds: A guide to Portugal’s lesser-known Côa Valley published in Aventure.com

.

AFRICA & INDIAN OCEAN

WINNER – Bella Falk pour Making a Splash published in Travel Africa Magazine

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Sue Watt pour Kavango-Zambezi – Foundations published in Travel Africa Magazine

.

ASIA

WINNER – Farida Zeynalova pour Explore Azerbaijan’s wine history – and its unexpected German past published in Voyageur National Geographic (Royaume-Uni)

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Angela Locatelli pour The Stuff of Legends published in Voyageur National Geographic (Royaume-Uni)

.

AUSTRALASIA & OCEANIA

WINNER – Lauren Jarvis pour Since Time published in OutThere Magazine

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Karen Edwards pour In the footsteps of the ancestors published in Magazine de voyage JRNY

.

NORTH AMERICA – CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES

WINNER – Kate Eshelby pour Mālama: The word embodying the spirit of Hawaii published in BBC Travel

HIGHLY COMMENDED – James March pour North America’s First Indigenous-owned Winery published in TONIC Magazine

.

CENTRAL AMERICA AND MEXICO

WINNER – Robyn Wilson pour The five-day trek in the Guatemalan jungle that’s worth every blister published in L'indépendant

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Steph Dyson pour How dreamy ‘cloud forests’ make this central American country an ideal alternative to Costa Rica published in L'indépendant

.

THE CARIBBEAN

WINNER – Sarah Lee pour From caves to coral reefs, this is how you can discover the wild side of Turks & Caicos published in Voyageur National Geographic (Royaume-Uni)

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Rory Buccheri pour Meet the family pioneering the Caribbean’s first ‘climate-smart islands’ published in Aventure.com

.

SOUTH AMERICA & ANTARCTICA

WINNER – Katy Dartford pour 24 hours in Lima published in Globetrotter Magazine

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Rupert Mellor pour Resist this! published in OutThere Magazine

.

GLOBAL

WINNER – Steph Dyson pour Should you use AI to plan your travels? published in Aventure.com

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Stuart Kenny pour Why Does Watching Bad Tourists on TV Make Us Want to Travel? published in Much Better Adventures

CONSUMER FEATURE OF THE YEAR – INTERNATIONAL WRITERS

UK, EUROPE & NORDIC REGION

WINNER – Daniel James Clarke pour Exploring Portugal’s historic hilltop hamlets in a free electric hire car published in The Guardian

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Asia London Palomba pour In Ireland, a Stone Age wellness therapy is making a comeback published in The Washington Post

.

ASIA

WINNER – Veidehi Gite pour Science and sustainability with the Baiga Tribe of Bandhavgarh published in Outlook Traveller

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Samantha Falewee pour “Mongolia’s Shifting Tourism Industry—And What It Means for the Country’s Nomads” published in Conde Nast Traveller

.

AUSTRALASIA & OCEANIA

WINNER – Ellie Cobb pour The Indian Ocean’s laidback paradise on Earth published in BBC Travel

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Sarah Reid pour A year ago, this South Pacific territory was off-limits. What’s it like to visit now? published in Aventure.com

.

AFRICA, ARABIA & INDIAN OCEAN

WINNER – Jonny Bierman pour Remembering Jane Goodall published in Travel + Leisure

.

AMERICAS, THE CARIBBEAN & ANTARCTICA

WINNER – Emily Barlow pour For hikers, this is one of the world’s best-preserved Inca roads. And no, it’s not the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu published in Aventure.com

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Annie Brown Verdin pour What does freedom taste like? We meet the recipe-keepers of the first free Black town in the Americas published in Aventure.com

.

GLOBAL

WINNER – Suzie Dundas pour The Price of Paradise: Luxury Travel Can Save the World’s Wildest Places, but at What Cost? published in Matador Network

TRADE FEATURE OF THE YEAR

WINNER – Zanny Merullo pour Visiting Indigenous Communities in the Yucatan Peninsula published in Travel Age West

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Jessica Reid pour ‘We just want to be accepted’: When TTG met India’s ‘third gender’ community published in Médias TTG

TELEVISION BROADCAST OF THE YEAR

WINNER – Mark Julian Edwards pour Welcome to Sri Lanka broadcast on The Jet Set TV Show

PODCAST / AUDIO PROGRAMME OF THE YEAR

WINNER – Mary Novakovich pour Krapanj’s sponge divers broadcast on BBC Radio 4

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Richard Hammond & Holly Tuppen pour Community Tourism: What does good community tourism look like and can we measure its benefits? broadcast on It’s a Journey – a sustainable travel podcast

TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR

WINNER – Carolyn Boyd pour Amuse Bouche published by Profile Books

TRAVEL GUIDE OF THE YEAR

WINNER – Emma Gibbs pour Scotland’s North Highlands – 1St edition published by Bradt Guides

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Daniel James Clarke pour Pocket Algarve – 3rd edition published by Lonely Planet

BLOG STORY OF THE YEAR

WINNER – Ana Duek pour “Community-based tourism itinerary in the Amazon: an immersion in the Rio Negro” publié le Viajar Verde

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Lucy Ruthnum pour Lukomir Village – Visiting Bosnia’s Most Remote Village publié le Absolutely Lucy

VLOG OF THE YEAR

Shivya Nath pour Slow travel in Bali published on YouTube

SHORT-REEL OF THE YEAR

Veidehi Gite for Cairo published on The Krazy Butterfly Instagram Channel

PHOTO OF THE YEAR - COMMISSIONED

People & Community

WINNER – Lauren Mowery for images featured in Of Craft and Humanity: Tracing the Modern Silk Road through Uzbekistan published in Azure Road

.

Wildlife & Environment

WINNER – Lynn Gail for images featured in Rare Breed published in International Traveller

Retour en haut