The Latin American Travel Association (LATA) is pleased to reveal the judging panel of the Ecoventura LATA Media Awards 2016 which will be held on 26 April. 

The LATA Media Awards recognise innovation and excellence across the British travel media landscape with a specific focus on Latin America. Every year, LATA holds an awards ceremony to celebrate and reward inspiring and creative Latin America stories.

This year, LATA is delighted to welcome five key individuals who have either contributed to bringing Latin America closer to Britain or who are leaders in the travel / publishing industry to take part in the judging process. These are Hugh Thomson; travel writer and film maker, Jeremy Skidmore; former editor of Travel Weekly and travel news editor at the Daily Telegraph and leading conference moderator and industry trainer, Eva Tarr-Kirkhope; founder and director of the Latin American Film Festival in London, Adrian Philips; MD of Bradt Guides, Simon Stafford; photography expert and technical editor of Nikon Owner magazine, and Byron Shirto; chairman of LATA.

Hugh Thomson has travelled extensively across Latin America and has written various books about his adventures including “Tequila Oil: Getting Lost in Mexico”; an account of a journey through Mexico in a classic Oldsmobile 98 which was serialised by BBC Radio 4. In particular Hugh is an expert on travel across Peru, his first book “The White Rock: An Exploration of the Inca Heartland”, was the result of a twenty-year long journey to understand and explore the Peruvian Andes beyond Machu Picchu. Most recently, he presented Radio 4 programme “Two Men and a Mule” about travelling around Peru on a Mule.

Jeremy Skidmore has been a prominent figure in the travel industry for nearly 30 years, previously working as editor of Travel Weekly and as travel news editor of the Daily Telegraph. As a leading figure in the travel industry he moderates many conferences and advises many travel firms on crisis management and media training.

Eva Kirkhope; director and founder of The London Latin American Film Festival first came to London from Cuba in the 1970s building her career with media vehicles such as “The Women Films, Television and Video Network”, “Icarus Film International” and “Metro Pictures”. Together with her husband, Anthony Kirkhope, they founded the Latin America Film Festival in 1990, which has become a tradition and a success story of cultural exchange in London.

Adrian Philips is a leading travel writer and broadcaster, as well as Bradt Guide's Managing Director. In addition to publishing guide books, Adrian also contributes to a number of national newspapers and magazines such as The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Express, Wanderlust and National Geographic Traveller. He has received many awards for his work including the British Guild of Travel Writers 'Travel Writer of the Year' in 2012.

Simon Stafford's photographs have been used widely in newspapers, books, calendars and magazines and his work has earned him a number of awards in photographic competitions. Technical editor of Nikon Owner magazine, Simon is also involved in a wide variety of photographic projects, which include presenting photographic workshops, and contributing illustrated articles to leading photography magazines.

Byron Shirto was elected Chairman of the Latin America Travel Association in May 2014, and has previously served as honorary secretary of LATA. Byron boasts a wealth of experience in the travel industry and in 2009 set up a marketing and representation company 'Talking Stick Marketing', specialising in providing marketing solutions for tourism products in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

This year, The Ecoventura LATA Media Awards will include the following six categories:

• Consumer Newspaper Feature of the Year Award (print a/o online)
• Consumer Magazine Feature of the Year Award (Print a/o online)
• Trade Publication Feature of the Year Award
• Online Blog Feature of the Year Award
• Top Published Photo of the Year Award
• Best Self-Published Award (i.e Company Blog/Website)

Entry criteria

• Entries for the first four award categories will be welcomed from UK based editors, journalists, bloggers and photographers.  
• PRs can also submit entries on behalf of their clients.
• Entries for the Best Self-Published Award will be welcomed from full LATA members only.
• Editorial entries can be news stories, travel features or photography and must present Latin America in a positive light, encouraging travel to the region.
• Submissions for the photography award must be a photo of/in Latin America and emailed at 300dpi resolution or as PDF scans of the entire articles. All submissions must have a PDF or a screen grab of the article.
• Web links will only be sufficient for the 'Best Online Blog Feature' and 'Best Self-Published Award' categories.
• All submissions must have been published between 01 January 2015 and 31 December 2015.
• A maximum of three entries are allowed per person.

Deadlines

• All entries should be emailed to press@lata.org with the entry form (please note a separate form is required for each entry) downloadable from the Lotus Newsroom here, by 6pm (GMT) on 18 March 2016.
• Shortlisted entries will be notified by 19 April 2016.
• Results of the LATA Media Awards will be announced at the Ecoventura LATA Media Awards on 26 April 2016.

For further information, please email press@lata.org or contact Kate McWilliams or Lucy Keenan at Lotus (02079538788).