Previous Winners
A story that truly captures a travel experience is a joy to read for any avid traveller. Capturing the diverse beauty of Latin America is something that the LATA Media Awards recognize and celebrate.
Over the years LATA has been delighted with the quality and talent of the UK travel media, who produce material that captivate the UK public and inspire travel to Latin America.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2024
Best LATA Member Content
WINNER: Kate Brock – Lost & Found – Audley Traveller
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Sally Wells – Meet Costa Rica’s Changemakers: How a Dairy Farm Innovated Costa Rica’s First High-altitude Reforestation Project – Journey Costa Rica
Best Latin America Feature – Trade Press
WINNER: Rebecca Miles – ‘Timeless Yet Future-Proof’: How Costa Rica Nails Responsible Tourism –TTG
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Mark Stratton – ‘The Obsession with Sending Clients just to Machu Picchu is Lazy’ –TTG
Best Latin America Travel Blog or Podcast
WINNER: Vanessa Ball –Cool Things to Do Getsemani Cartagena: The Hip Urban Art Barrio -She Wanders Miles
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Petra Shepherd -Exploring Guyana: South America’s Wild Frontier -Trip Reporter
Best Latin American Travel Feature – magazine (online or print)
WINNER: Steph Dyson -The New Superstars –JRNY Magazine
HIGHLY COMMENDED: George Kipouros –The Land Without Evil –Wanderlust
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Sarah Marshall -“Life in the saddle” –National Geographic Traveller
Best Latin America Travel Feature – newspaper or news outlet (online or print)
WINNER: Sarah Marshall -The underrated alternative to the Galapagos – The Sunday Times
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Emma Featherstone -An unsung land of giants – The i
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Shafik Meghji -A road trip to the edge of the Earth – BBC Travel
Best Published Latin America Travel Image
WINNER: Giulia Verdinelli – Photo story: savouring the street food of Oaxaca, Mexico -National Geographic Traveller
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Karolina Wiercigroch – Lima: A Culinary Renaissance -National Geographic Traveller
NEW CATEGORY: Best Specialist Feature (with a focus on conservation, community a/o sustainability)
WINNER: Mark Stratton – Wing and a Prayer – The Geographical Magazine
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Shafik Meghji – Ghost Cats: Transforming attitudes to Pumas – Geographical Magazine
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Stanley Stewart – “On the trail of Brazil’s elusive maned wolf” – The Financial Times
NEW CATEGORY: Best use of Social Media and Video to Promote Travel to Latin America
WINNER: Vanessa Ball – Slow Travel Through Ecuador, The Galapagos and Peru: Stories of Unique Wildlife, Adventure Travel and Cultural Immersion – She Wanders Miles Instagram
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Alex Outhwaite – A trip to the Tarapaca, Chile – Alex Outhwaite Instagram
2023
Best Latin America Travel Blog, Vlog or Podcast
Winner: Alex Robinson for ‘Exploring the Amazon through indigenous eyes’, published with Wanderlust.
Runner-up: Shafik Meghji for ‘Hope is out there: What a decade of travels in Bolivia has taught me about the climate crisis’
Best Latin America feature in the trade press
Winner: Madeleine Barber for ‘Prime Amazon’ published in TTG
Runner-up: Steph Dyson for ‘Beyond the canal: Panama as a green travel hotspot’
Best published Latin America travel image
Winner: Nori Jemil for Chilean Fjords, in Outlook Travel Magazine
Runner-up: Kav Dadfar for Havana City Life
Best Latin America Travel Feature published with a newspaper, including online and print
Winner: Jamie Lafferty for ‘Close to the edge’ published by the Financial Times.
Runner-up: Claire Boobbyer for ‘Isla de la Juventud: Cuba’s remote nature paradise
Best Latin America Travel Feature published with a magazine, including online and print
Winner: Sarah Marshall for ‘Caimans, capybaras and very big cats’ in National Geographic Traveller.
Runner-up: Mark Stratton for ‘How did a former seaweed empire become Patagonia’s Galapagos’
2020
Consumer National Newspaper Feature of the Year Award (print)
Winner: Kevin Rushby for ‘We want to keep our forest’: why Guyana’s wilderness needs visitors’ in The Guardian
Joint Runners-up: Chris Leadbeater for ‘The other side of Rio de Janeiro’ in The Sunday Telegraph and Nick Middleton for ‘Butterflies in the stomach’ in the Financial Times
Consumer Magazine Feature of the Year Award (print)
Winner: Kate Horne for ‘Magical Thinking’ in Suitcase Magazine
Runner-up: Phoebe Smith for ‘Reading the Runes’ in Suitcase Magazine
Online Consumer Feature of the Year Award (national magazine or newspaper)
Winner: Aaron Miller for ‘A road trip on Chile’s wild new Route of Parks’ in National Geographic Traveller UK (Online)
Runner-up: Kevin Rushby for ‘We want to keep our forest’: why Guyana’s wilderness needs visitors’ in The Guardian (Online)
Best Regional Feature of the Year Awards (print a/o online)
Winner: Jeannine Williamson for ‘The Call of the Wild’ in ETC Magazine
Runner-up: Sarah Marshall for ‘Vintage Beauty in Buenos Aires’ in Bristol Post
Trade Publication Feature of the Year Award (print or online)
Winner: Katie McGonagle for ‘Go with the flow’ in Travel Weekly
Joint Runners-up: Laura French for ‘Paved with Gold’ in Travel Weekly and Sarah Gilbert for ‘Dream in Colour’ in Travel Weekly
Blog, Vlog or Podcast of the Year Award
Winner: James Stewart for ‘Close encounters in the Galapagos’ in Horizon Guides
Runner-up: Shafik Meghji for ‘From war to wildlife: Why you should visit the Falkland Islands’ in Adventure.com
Best Latin American Round-up (print a/o online)
Winner: Chris Moss for ‘The Other Caribbean’ in The Telegraph (Online)
Runner-up: Laura French for ‘The best colonial-era cities in Central America’ in Travel Weekly
Best Self- Published Award (Company Blog/Website – LATA member category)
Winner: Vanessa Humphrey for ‘An Education in the Amazon’ in Steppes Travel blog
Runner-up: Matthew Scott for ‘Providencia Island, Colombia: An Alternative Take on Conventional Caribbean’ in Discover Silversea
Top published Latin America photo
Winner: Claire Boobbyer for ‘Teatro Mella Havana’ in BBC Travel
Runner-up: Phoebe Smith for ‘Ghost of the Steppes’ in Wanderlust
2019
Blog Post of the Year Award
Runner Up: Abigail King, Ice climbing in Patagonia (InsideTheTravelLab.com)
Winner: Luke Waterson, The Road to Choquequirao: Is this Peru’s next Inca Trail? (adventure.com)
Online Consumer Feature of the Year Award
Runner Up: Shafik Meghji, An Antarctic voyage: becoming a “citizen scientist” (Rough Guides Online)
Winner: Simon Parker, On holiday in Mexico’s murder capital – what it’s really like down in Acapulco (Telegraph Online)
Consumer Newspaper Feature of the Year Award
Runner Up: Sarah Marshall, Fall in lov with Iguazu and its people (The Sunday Telegraph)
Winner: Stanley Stewart, To the end of the Earth (The Sunday Times)
Consumer Magazine Feature of the Year Award
Runner Up: Lucy Gilmore, The big chill, (House and Garden)
Winner: Sam Harrison, Had he lived, Che Guevara would have been 90 this month… (N by Norwegian)
Trade Publication Feature of the Year Award
Runner Up: Adam Coulter, Latin America as an adventure capital (Selling Travel)
Winner: Laura French, Tip of the iceberg (Travel Weekly)
Self-published Feature of the Year Award
Runner Up: Jim Morrison, How the Peruvian Pelican reflects changes in the Environment (Silversea)
Winner: Vanessa Humphreys, Chile: A passage from the land of salt and stars to the “end of the world” (Steppes Travel)
Published Photo of the Year Award
Runner Up: Simon Chubb, Queen of the Pantanal (Wanderlust)
Winner: Jonathan Gregson, Across Patagonia (Lonely Planet)
Latin America Round-up Feature of the Year Award
Runner Up: Telegraph team, The best train journeys in Latin America for 2018 (The Telegraph)
Winner: N by Norwegian, 21 things you didn’t know about Buenos Aires (N by Norwegian)
Regional Press Feature of the Year Award
Runner Up: Lizzie Pook, The High Life (City AM Magazine)
Winner: Steve Hogarty, A new leaf (City AM Magazine)
2018
Blog Post of the Year Award
Highly Commended: Neil Hennessy-Vass, Central America: A new revolution
Runner Up: Shafik Meghji, Best things to do in Ecuador
Winner: Abigail King, Pre-Columbian art in Ecuador and the surprising question it asks
Online Consumer Feature of the Year Award
Runner Up: Sarah Gilbert, Exploring Che Guevara’s Bolivian shrine 50 years after his death (Independent Online)
Winner: Tamara Hinson, Quito: Why Ecuador’s capital is known for its evolving music scene (Independent Online)
Consumer Newspaper Feature of the Year Award
Runner Up: Andrew Purvis, My David Attenborough moment in the Amazon (The Sunday Telegraph)
Winner: Mike Unwin, Living at one with the creatures of the canopy (The Sunday Telegraph)
Consumer Magazine Feature of the Year Award
Runner-Up: Chris Moss, Shape shifter (Conde Nast Traveller)
Winner: Adrian Phillips, A wild, rolling-eyed beast of a route (National Geographic Traveller)
Trade Publication Feature of the Year Award
Runner Up: Meera Dattani, Belize the hype (Travel Weekly)
Winner: Ben Lerwill, Andes to Amazon (Selling Travel)
Self-published Feature of the Year Award
Runner-Up: Jennifer Richt, Belize in it: An example of ecotourism (Jacada Travel)
Winner: Anna McNuff, Through Patagonia on wheels (Swoop Patagonia)
Published Photo of the Year Award
Runner Up: Alex Robinson, Mystic river (Wanderlust)
Winner: Jonathan Gregson, Lago Pehoé, Torres Del Paine (Lonely Planet)
2017
Top Published Latin American Photo
Runner Up: Renato Granieri, Whale in Baja California (South Wales Echo)
Winner: Philip Lee Harvey, Ecuador Pipes (Lonely Planet)
Blog Post of the Year
Runner Up: Kerry Christiani, Highs on the Huemul Circuit (Lonely Planet Blog)
Winner: Claire Boobbyer, The Burial of Pachencho in Cuba (The Holiday Place Blog)
Online Consumer Feature of the Year
Runner Up: Chris Leadbeater, Guyana: South America’s Best Kept Secret? (Telegraph Online)
Winner: Olivia Rawes, Six Reasons to visit Bogota (Rough Guides)
Consumer Newspaper Feature of the Year
Runner Up: Nick Boulos, A fresh perspective on Rio from the top of Big Brother (Sunday Telegraph)
Winner: Teresa Machan, Round the Horn for a Cape Escape (The Daily Telegraph)
Consumer Magazine Feature of the Year
Runner-Up: Stanley Stewart, Shimmy Shimmy Cartagena (Conde Nast Traveller)
Winner: Stanley Stewart, Giant Steps (Conde Nast Traveller)
Trade Publication Feature of the Year
Runner Up- Pippa Jacks, Galapagos Galore (TTG)
Winner: Ella Buchan, Costa Rica 3 ways (Travel Weekly)
Best Self-published Award
Runner-Up: David Horwell, Seven Latin American cocktails you have to try (Select Latin America)
Winner: Jamie Swan, A Guide to Homestays in Cuba (Journey Latin America)
2016
Consumer Newspaper Feature of the Year Award
Winner: Chris Moss, Is the writing on the wall for Cuba (The Sunday Telegraph)
Runner up: Michael Kerr, How green was my valley (The Sunday Telegraph)
Consumer Magazine Feature of the Year Award
Winner: Michelle Jana Chan, Born Trippy: Brazil’s most awesome coast (Conde Nast Traveller)
Joint runners up: Alex Robinson, Legal highs Rio (The Sunday Times Travel Magazine)
Antonia Quirke, Flick the switch: barefoot shores are still as lo-fi as a box of frogs (Conde Nast Traveller)
Trade Publication Feature of the Year Award
Winner: Katie McGonagle, Wild at Heart (Travel Weekly)
Runner up: Katherine Lawrey, Wild times in the rainforest (TTG)
Online Blog Feature of the Year Award
Joint winners: Emma Thomson, Amazon: Swimming with river dolphins (National Geographic Traveller)
Glen Mutel, The Panama Canal: Crossing a Continent (National Geographic Traveller)
Runner up: John Malathronas, On the old Patagonian Express (RoundTheWorldFlights)
Top Published Photo of the Year Award
Joint winners: Graeme Green, Flight of the Condors (Wanderlust)
Alex Robinson, Big trip Costa Rica (The Sunday Times Travel Magazine)
Runner up: Renato Granieri, Elephant Seal Laughing (Press Association)
Best Self-Published Award
Winner: Sorrel Moseley-Williams, Not just a pretty place: Salta’s Calchaquí Valley (Jacada Travel)
Runner up: Heather Richardson, 15 Reasons you won’t forget a trip to the Galapagos Islands (Jacada Travel)
2015
Consumer Newspaper Feature of the Year Award
Winner – Chris Leadbeater – Colombia: Secrets of an Ancient Curiosity (Independent)
Runner-up – Ian Belcher – What Lies Beneath (Financial Times)
Consumer Magazine Feature of the Year Award
Winner – Kate Kellaway – Gaucho Style (Harpers Bazaar)
Runner-up – Stanley Stewart – Blissed Out In Belize (CN Traveller)
Trade Publication Feature of the Year
Winner – Jo Booth – Animal Magnetism (Travel Weekly’s Aspire)
Runner-up – Brian Major – Belize’s Charm is Difficult to Describe but Easily Experienced (Travel Pulse)
Best Digital and Online feature
Winner – Daniel Neilson – A Beginners Guide to Football Teams in Buenos Aires (The Real Argentina)
Runner-up – Sarah Gilbert – Urban Oases: The Best Towns in Central America (Lonely Planet Online)
Best Self Published
Winner – Heather Richardson –Reserva do Ibtipoca, Brazil (Jacada)
Runner-up – Claire Milner – The Unknown Delights of Southern Brazil (Journey Latin America)
2014
Consumer Newspaper Feature of the Year Award
Winner – Chris Haslam ¬Brazil 2014 (Brazil / The Sunday Times)
Runner-up – Wendy Gomersall – Mexican Wave (Mayan Riviera, Mexico / Mail on Sunday)
Consumer Magazine Feature of the Year Award
Winner – Emma Gregg – Welcome to the Jungle (Peru / National Geographic Traveller)
Runner-up – Laura Fowler – Where to Stay on Brazil’s Coolest Coast (Bahia, Brazil / Conde Nast Traveller)
Highly Commended – Nick Boulos – Living with Evolution (Galapagos / Wanderlust)
– Peter Browne – Welcome to the After Party (Uruguay / Conde Nast Traveller)
Trade Publication Feature of the Year
Winner – Joanna Booth – Why the Long Face? (Easter Island, Chile / Aspire, Travel Weekly)
Runner-up – Lauren Holmes – Beach and Beyond (Rio, Brazil / TTG Luxury)
2013
Consumer Feature of the Year Newspaper or Magazine
Winner – Chris Leadbeater (Chile, Independent & Mail)
Runner-up – Ian Belcher (Bolivia, Sun Times)
2012
Consumer Feature of the Year Newspaper or Magazine
Winner – Mike Unwin (Brazil, Independent)
Runner-up – Sarah Gilbert (Ecuador, Wanderlust)
2011
Consumer Feature of the Year Newspaper or Magazine
Winner – Lydia Bell (Cuba, Telegraph)
Runner-up – Jane Dunford (Iberá, BA Highlife) – Highly Commended
2010
Consumer Feature of the Year Newspaper or Magazine
Winner – Ian Belcher (Chile/Bolivia Sun Time Magazine)
Runner-up – Chris Leadbeater (Mexico, Daily Mail)
2009
Consumer Feature of the Year Newspaper or Magazine
Winner – Nigel Tisdall (Guyana, Telegraph Ultra)
Runner-up – David Atkinson (Wanderlust Bolivia)
2008
Consumer Feature of the Year Newspaper or Magazine
Winner – Vincent Crump (Venezuela, Sun Times)
2007
Consumer Feature of the Year Newspaper or Magazine
Winner – Paul Richardson (Venezuela, Conde Nast)
Runner-up – Chris Moss (Argentina & Brazil, Telegraph)
2006
Consumer Feature of the Year Newspaper or Magazine
Winner – Nigel Tisdall
Runner-up – Chris Moss
2005
Consumer Feature of the Year Newspaper or Magazine
Winner – Matt Bannerman
Runner-up -Nigel Tisdall
2004
Consumer Feature of the Year Newspaper or Magazine
Winner – Lucy Gillmore (Independent)
Runner-up – Jasper Winn (Sunday Times),
Highly Commended: Peter Hutchison (ABTA mag)
2003
Consumer Feature of the Year Newspaper or Magazine
Winner – Sarah Barrell