{"id":4132,"date":"2013-06-03T20:20:03","date_gmt":"2013-06-04T00:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/verygoodpoints\/?p=4132"},"modified":"2013-06-03T20:20:59","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T00:20:59","slug":"vgp-recognized-at-2013-travel-leisure-magazine-smitty-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/verygoodpoints\/2013\/06\/03\/vgp-recognized-at-2013-travel-leisure-magazine-smitty-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"VGP recognized at 2013 Travel & Leisure Magazine SMITTY Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have never regretted missing a conference more than this past weekend’s Travel Bloggers Exchange TBEX in Toronto. \u00a0At the conference for Travel Writer and Travel Bloggers, Travel & Leisure Magazine’s Executive Digital Editor, Rich Beattie announced the winner of the\u00a0Travel & Leisure Magazine SMITTY Awards.<\/p>\n

What are the SMITTYs? \u00a0They are Travel & Leisure Magazine’s Social Media In Travel & Tourism Awards. \u00a0This year a new category for Best Use of Social Media by an Independent Travel Journalist\/Blogger was added to the awards.<\/p>\n

VeryGoodPoints was nominated for the work I did in getting the Westin Hotel Macau to remove Shark Fin Soup from its menu. \u00a0Beattie recognized this blog during his presentation for unique ideas and uses of a blog to impact social change.<\/p>\n

\"TLSmitty

Courtesy: Rich Beattie, Travel & Leisure Magazine<\/p><\/div>\n

Last year when I learned that the Westin Macau was still serving Shark Fin Soup I began tweeting and writing<\/a> about the practice. The hotel’s general manager responded and promised change. \u00a0They immediately took the item off the menu and said that when the new executive chef came on board he would make sure the new menu didn’t include it. \u00a0They have in fact stood by that<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shark Fining is an unsustainable practice that has been outlawed at official Chinese State events and throughout many parts of the world, however, it continues as consumers still pay large amounts of money for this soup. You can learn more about Shark Fining from the nonprofit, Stop Shark Fining\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

While I didn’t win this year’s award, it’s such an honor to be recognized by Travel & Leisure for my efforts. \u00a0I’m also thrilled to have been listed with such amazing bloggers and writers.\u00a0You can bet that VGP has something in the works already that will be submitted for the 2014 SMITTY awards. \u00a0Congratulations to everyone!<\/p>\n

The award went to:<\/p>\n

BEST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY AN INDEPENDENT TRAVEL JOURNALIST\/BLOGGER<\/h3>\n
\n
\n

WINNER:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Passports with Purpose<\/h4>\n

During a 15-day period, some\u00a0200 travel bloggers<\/a>\u00a0combined efforts to digitally solicit $110,000 for\u00a0Water.org<\/a>, an organization dedicated to delivering clean, drinkable water to communities worldwide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

RUNNER-UP:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Everything Everywhere<\/h4>\n

For the past six years, Gary Arndt has been blogging his travel stories and sharing photos via social media\u2014quite a job to keep up with, considering he\u2019s been to more than 100 countries and seven continents since 2007. The goal of\u00a0Everything Everywhere<\/a>\u00a0is to create a community where travelers can share tips and experiences, with Gary often crowdsourcing information on where to stay and what to eat around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have never regretted missing a conference more than this past weekend’s Travel Bloggers Exchange TBEX in Toronto. \u00a0At the conference for Travel Writer and Travel Bloggers, Travel & Leisure Magazine’s Executive Digital Editor, Rich Beattie announced the winner of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"VGP recognized at 2013 Travel & Leisure Magazine SMITTY Award presentation for unique ideas\/uses 4 social change http:\/\/wp.me\/p39prY-14E","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[91],"tags":[377,297,376,375],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nVGP recognized at 2013 Travel & Leisure Magazine SMITTY Awards - 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