New Travel Writer of the Year 2021: Shortlisted entries

We’re thrilled to announce the shortlist for the 2021 Bradt New Travel Writer of the Year competition, in association with the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards.

All four finalists will be invited to the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards ceremony, either virtually or in person, where the overall winner will be announced.

We hope this will take place in the second week of March, but the details – as with so much in our lives at the moment – are Covid-dependent so please look out for announcements on our website.

The announcement by Stanfords

Notes from the judges

Hilary Bradt said of the longlist and judging process:

“All the judges agree that the quality of the entries to the Bradt New Travel Writer of the Year competition for 2021 has been exceptional. We say this every year, but it’s never untrue – the standard just seems to get better and better, and the competition more and more fiercely fought.

“I think the theme “I’d love to go back” helped, since we’ve been enjoying evocative descriptions of longed-for places with wry comments on the present situation. The lockdown has encouraged people to reflect on their favourite travel moments of the past, and perhaps stirred a wanderlust that has inspired some very creative and engaging writing.

“It was very hard to reduce them to the four finalists – we couldn’t manage three –and each of the longlisted entries had at least one champion among the judges.”

The shortlist

The Man I Met

By Marc Jones

Notes from the judges

The shortlist

Highly Commended

Commended