The Bradt/Independent on Sunday travel-writing competition finalists
We have our six finalists. The 20 most highly rated entries on the theme Serendipity were re-read (several times), evaluated, pondered over and discussed during our meeting in London yesterday. The four judges during this final stage were Hilary Bradt and Adrian Phillips (respectively founder and MD of Bradt Guides), Jon Lorie of Travellers’ Tales and Sophie Lam, Head of Travel at the Independent on Sunday. Two other judges from Bradt had helped to compile the long-list. 
Travel-writing judging
It seems to me that each year the standard of writing gets better. The theme this year inspired some particularly good stories that were a joy to read, but we were also looking for excellent writing, the ability to shape a story in the required number of words, and general – for want of a better word – oomph.
With so many excellent entries, it was enormously difficult to select the shortlist of six writers from whom the best overall and the best unpublished writers are chosen. Entries which in some previous competitions could well have been among the finalists found themselves overtaken.
The names of the six finalists are listed below. In addition, those whose entries just failed to make the shortlist are listed as Highly Commended, followed by Commended entries that were liked by several of the judges and the Special Mentions which caught the attention of at least one of the judges.
The winners will be revealed at an awards ceremony at Stanfords Bookshop on Monday 7th September, and we will post the results – as well as all the six finalist entries – on our website the following day. You can also read the overall winner’s entry in print in The Independent on Sunday on Sunday 13th September.
The Prizes
  • First Prize: As well as publication of the winning entry in The Independent on Sunday, the main prize is an eight-day fly-drive holiday for two to Iceland, donated by Discover the World, and a commission to write a travel feature about the trip in the newspaper. 
  • Best Unpublished Writer: An unpublished writer will win a five-night rail holiday for two through the Swiss Alps to the Cinque Terre in Liguria, the opportunity to write a short account of the trip for The Independent’s website, and a place on a travel writing weekend run by Travellers’ Tales (the UK’s leading training agency for travel writing).
  • Best Young Writer: There was no award given in this category this year.  

The Finalists (In alphabetical order)
Matt Dawson
Liam Hodkinson
Joanna Mason
Deborah Parrott
Sally Stott
Susanna Thornton
Highly Commended
Matthew Adams
Moira Ashley
Sarah Bianchi
Michael Crome
Sandi Dunn
Stephen Fabes
Catherine O'Sullivan
Rory Osborne
Commended
Sarah Ackroyd
Matthew Adams
Jean Ashbury
Susan Gathercole
Mandy Huggins
Special mention
Paul Davies
Julia Hammond Johnson
Kelly Holman
Sara Moon
Penny Monro
Sarah Pope
Dom Tulett