Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Travel + Leisure Entry Title: Travel + Leisure Entry Credit: Jacqui Gifford (Editor in Chief) Judge Comment: Travel + Leisure sets the pace as an authority in travel magazines with crisp design, stimulating story selection, clear writing and ambitious scope. Feature packages such as “Destination of the Year Brazil” and “The Wonder of Water” themed stories showcased grounded writing, stunning visual perspectives and thoughtful reflections. The magazine’s departments were pleasantly dense with sidebars, tips and lived-in sensibilities. The Intelligent Traveler department is a consistent high point in the magazine, with sensible stories about travel-focused credit cards, long-term stay hotels and a Chinese pioneer cruise line. Reader service advice was nearly always present in all story formats, including reliable suggestions options about details like where to stay and how to book in each feature. In these pages, readers can easily get lost in daydreams of adventure or find functional advice to enhance an upcoming itinerary.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Condé Nast Traveler Entry Title: Condé Nast Traveler | December 2025, Jan/Feb 2026, March 2026 Entry Credit: Erin Florio Judge Comment: Compelling stories, helpful advice and engaging design makes Condé Nast Traveler a stellar reading experience. The magazine demonstrates its expertise particularly well with themed feature wells, including the “The 2026 Gold List” and March 2026 issue’s packages on sport-based traveling and “Warm Welcome” destinations. Readers inspired to travel will find smart, useful sidebars and story pairings that make it easy to take the leap, such as the “New and Next” sidebars on the wellness feature package. Department stories pair strong writing with engrossing visuals, and the “ask a local” series from Word of Mouth is a highlight. Condé Nast Traveler continues to be a powerhouse of travel magazines.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Afar Entry Title: Afar Magazine Entry Credit: Julia Cosgrove Judge Comment: Afar brings readers up close and personal with traveling inspiration, advice perspectives through skillful design choices, immersive photography, captivating illustrations and thoughtful writing. The magazine’s tagline of “Travelers who care” reverberates throughout each book, especially from departments like Unpacked and Connect and the feature stories. Stories like “Hidden Figures” by Latria Graham and “In Reel Time” by Chris Colin are compelling, contemplative first-person narratives paired with poignant illustrations by Andrea Cheung and Violeta Encarnación, respectively. In Afar, features pack a punch, too, with robust, blurb-based packages nestled with longform narratives. The Summer 2025 issue’s “52 Reasons to Travel to Every State This Year” package felt fresh, exciting and practical with every page. Meanwhile, “Botswana by Bike” by Chris Colin, enhanced by stunning photos from Michelle Heimerman, provides a lively narrative of a family bike trip through southern Africa.
Place Name: Honorable Mention Contestant Name: National Park Trips Entry Title: National Park Journal Entry Credit: Mikaela Ruland, Editor in Chief, Hernan Sosa, Art Director Judge Comment: National Parks Journal should be given an Honorable Mention designation. // National Parks Journal is a world-class demonstration of magazine-style reader service, and it’s easy to picture launching a trip to one of these parks armed with the journal’s 360-degree travel advice. Each issue orients readers to one park, with graphics, trips and stories that will help them make the most of their visits — both at the park and in the surrounding communities. The magazine offers answers to questions ranging from “Do I need a car?” to “What should I eat at the nearby ‘Garlic Capital of the World’?” The departments are thoughtfully paced, starting with geographical context and Back to Basics beginner’s advice (“Wow, what a hole,” kicks off the Grand Canyon’s entry to remind readers there’s more to see at the bottom) before taking the reader through specific activities, places to stay and food to eat. The selected stories help the reader feel holistically immersed and connected to the parks, such as Colorado’s “Into the Wild” about native mammals and the recurring “Whose Land Am I On?” series.
