Last November 2013, I accomplished my greatest career achievement to date: a “Highly Commended” citation for my photo at the 2013 World Responsible Tourism Awards. The photo was taken on Earth Day 2013 while the staff and a guest from El Nido Resorts were cleaning up Dilumacad Beach in El Nido. It’s one of my favorite photos and I’m grateful to ResponsibleTravel.com, World Travel Market, and the International Centre for Responsible Tourism for recognizing my work.
The awards organizers encouraged me to attend the awarding ceremony during World Travel Market in London but since they weren’t sponsoring the trip, I chose not to go. Too expensive and I wasn’t even sure I was going to win. Ah well. The live stream of the awards ceremony wasn’t working for me so I found out about the “Highly Commended” citation via the live tweets. Because of the time difference, this meant staying up until 4am to wait for the announcements.
The certificate arrived in the mail yesterday and it is glorious. I’m going to frame it.
I’ve had my photographs published before but this was my first time to win (of sorts) in an international photo competition. The fact that it was during the World Responsible Tourism Awards made it even sweeter, as responsible tourism is a cause very near and dear to my heart. I hope my photo gives a glimpse of what tourism could look like if all the stakeholders involved commit to responsible tourism. Responsible tourism is not about today, but tomorrow.
Note: This is a Back Blog AKA something I wrote way after the fact then backdated to place it in its proper spot in the calendar. This post was actually written in April 2014.