Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Rachel Ng Entry Title: The Moving Story of Bringing Baseball Back to Manzanar, Where Thousands of Japanese Americans Were Incarcerated During World War II Entry Credit: Rachel Ng Judge Comment: Rachel Ng’s piece is a grand slam in historical reclamation through travel writing. Smart, agile reportage reanimates a little-known corner of internment history. By elevating a simple baseball field restoration into a poignant meditation on trauma, resilience and cultural memory, this piece seamlessly connects past social injustices to present-day identity with nuance and restraint. This is travel journalism that honors both subject and reader.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Christopher Dong Entry Title: Who are the Delta gays? How the airline became a haven for the LGBTQ community Entry Credit: Christopher Dong Judge Comment: Christopher Dong’s clever portrait of a niche subculture is cultural commentary at its most insightful and entertaining. Blending social analysis, branding critique and queer identity, Dong offers a pitch-perfect narrative that captures the strange alchemy where capitalism and community collide and where airline loyalty becomes something more valuable than frequent-flier miles.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Sheeka Sanahori Entry Title: A Stranger Invited Me to Our Family's Reunion Entry Credit: Sheeka Sanahori Judge Comment: Sheeka Sanahori offers readers a memorable and clear-eyed exploration of heritage, belonging and family. The writer elevates what could have been a sentimental journey to a family reunion into a powerful meditation on kinship and cultural continuity. Sharp reporting and vivid writing infuse tension and intimacy into a deeply human tale that reveals family not as a static lineage but as a map pointing the way toward somewhere far greater and more meaningful.
Place Name: Honorable Mention Contestant Name: Claudia Laroye Entry Title: Flying high: Meet the Métis woman behind Canada’s first Indigenous, woman-owned airline Entry Credit: Claudia Laroye Judge Comment: Claudia Laroye’s richly reported profile of Teara Fraser soars as a textured account of an Indigenous woman reshaping aviation on her own brave terms. The story blends personal, political and environmental threads into a crisp and often-moving narrative while reminding readers that the most compelling journeys in travel journalism are driven not by geography but by vision.
