Organisation of a destination's annual writer awards

for Caribbean Tourism Organisation Winter 2008

bgb worked with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation to create the idea of an annual writers' awards, where national, regional, consumer and trade journalists could be recognised and rewarded for their range of excellent writing about the Caribbean region over the preceding year.

In winter 2008 bgb organised the writers' awards to coincide with the first evening of World Travel Marketing, holding the evening in award-winning Docklands, West Indian restaurant "Caribbean Scene", and enabling a range of CTO members and Caribbean ministers to attend the media awards night as well as securing attendance from a large range of around 30 high-calibre media.

The evening offered the CTO the chance to talk to both members and media about recent and forthcoming news, as well as showcasing the diversity of positive coverage on the region which the various UK and Irish journalists had produced over the past year.

As well as enjoying the Caribbean-themed food and drinks, the media were pleased to be able to network with the members and the winning four journalists received holiday to the Caribbean, giving them the chance to experienc the region again and hopefully write further, positive stories. Some of the winning journalists covered the awards ceremony in their publications, with a mention and image appearing in the News of the World - the UK's most widely read newspaper - on the weekend after the evening.