Winning Silver at Outlook Travel India Responsible Tourism Awards 2020 – What Does it Mean?

Winning something for your work is a bit deal. It is a bigger deal when it comes out of nowhere. Something similar happened with Outlook Travel India Responsible Tourism Awards 2020. I won Silver in Best Communicator Category and it was totally unexpected because I was nominated with some of the bigger names who have done a lot of commendable work in this field and are more experienced than I am.

Last year, sometime in November, I received an email from the organization that was conducting the awards saying that I am in the longlist of Best Communicator. I received a set of questionnaire where I had to share details about my work and its impact. Being a communicator means that you have used your blog, podcast or vlog or any similar channel to let your audience know about what responsible travel means and how to be one.

Long story short, I made to the final shortlist and then ended up winning a silver in Best Communicator Category on the day of awards. Sadly, I couldn’t make it to the event venue because I failed to make travel arrangements on time.

Winning Silver at an event like this means a lot for a small time blogger like me who has tried discussing impact of responsible tourism at every platform possible. With the award, I have received more visibility and many of the renowned entities learn about my work.

I don’t think my challenges are going away anywhere sooner because the journey to build an audience is still difficult. Although, I hope to connect with more such entities doing commendable work in the field of responsible tourism, especially the ones who were a part of the shortlist. Responsible travel blogging in India is still not mainstream and I aim to bring more influencers into this trend because if we don’t start talking about global warming and waste management now then it will be too late.