Award-winning supplement

Press, 20 May 1987, Page 8

Award-winning supplement

A travel supplement on Fiji in “The Press” last year has won the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s 1987 over-all grand gold award for the best newspaper or magazine supplement promoting tourism. The 32-page tabloid feature, “Face of Fiji,” was written, photographed and edited by Les Bloxham, travel editor of “The Press.” P.A.T.A.’s annual gold awards programme this year attracted nearly 700 entries from 35 countries. The awards were presented at the' association’s annual conference in Osaka, Japan, yesterday. The supplement included articles on Fiji’s tourist attractions, accom-

modation facilities, outerisland cruises and dutyfree shopping. It also included eight pages of colour photographs and advertisements. The advertising co-ordi-nator was Dearwin Bonniface, formerly a sales representative on “The Press” advertising staff. The award, entered on behalf of the Fiji Visitors’ Bureau because of its P.A.T.A. membership, was presented to Mr Bloxham at yesterday’s gold awards luncheon. Mr Bloxham also received two awards for travel writing and photography. He was one of five recipients of special commendations for newspaper travel articles

(under 1200 words) for a two-part article on Sri Lanka printed in “Tuesday Travel” last October. The others were Jay Clarke (“Miami Herald”), Steve Cooper ("Weekly Times,” Australia), George Ridge (“Arizona Daily Star”), and Kevin Sinclair ("South China Morning Post”). A full page of photographs on Malaysia which appeared in “The Press”, last June earned Mr Bloxham an award in the photo-essay section. Susan : Kurosawa, a regular contributor to “Tuesday Travel,” won two special commendations for two articles written for Australian magazines.

The New Zealand Tourist and Publicity Department won. a category award for best tourist attraction photograph — “Sheep grazing in Central Otago” and three special commendations for a photograph of Mitre Peak, a promotional campaign, “Climate — Fast Lane — Mass Uprisings,” and a travel brochure, “The New Zealand Book, 1987.” The awards were received by the department’s general manager, Mr Neil Plimmer. The number of entries in the gold awards this year was a record — 9 per cent up on last year, according to P.A.T.A.’s director of public relations, Mr Graham Hornel.