In the first photo competition by the International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association, Therese Iknoian and Michael Hodgson garnered four travel photography awards, including a Best of Show.

Just a week after taking home five awards for excellence in travel photography, HI Travel Tales has garnered another round of high honors in a travel photo contest run by the International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA). The IFWTWA Travel Photography Awards for 2021 were announced March 12.

Iknoian took home the “Best in Show” award among all photos for her image showing the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse in Maine reflecting in a puddle on a cloudy day. That photo had garnered the gold in the Travel-Landscape category.

Hodgson won gold in the Food-People category for a photo showing a lively interaction in a Cajun cooking class between chef Spuddy and Iknoian.

Iknoian’s photo of the Sauvignon Blanc crush at Nevada City winery a couple of years ago won silver in the Food-Wineries category.

Hodgson also took home an honorable mention for his shot of Berlin’s modern Reichstag dome in Travel-Architecture.

This round of awards comes just a week after the pair behind HI Travel Tales won five awards, also for photography, in this year’s awards for travel journalism from the North American Travel Journalists Association. In those, Iknoian won a gold, silver, bronze and honorable mention, while Hodgson nabbed a silver in the Cultural category.

“Showing off destinations and travel discovery with top imagery remains a hallmark of our travel blog’s reputation,” Iknoian said. Each of the last three years, they have won awards for either photography or writing or both.

“We have a passion for helping people discover their travel dreams, and awards just help motivate us more,” Hodgson said.

Iknoian and Hodgson, based in Northern California, have run HI Travel Tales for about six years, during which time they have traveled to, photographed, and written about Germany, Morocco, Ukraine, Argentina, Antarctica and of course the United States, thrilling their hosts everywhere they go. Together, they have been to all seven continents, 46 countries, and all 50 states, focusing on immersive travel that connects readers with the culture, food, history, people, and natural wonders of a destination. With the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been back in California targeting deeper experiences in their own backyard, home state of California, and the Western region, while dreaming about future travel.

International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association, a non-profit established in 1981, is a global network of storytelling content creators. Members come from several dozen countries. All winners and entrants in the first photography competition can be seen in the March 2021 issue of the association’s FWT magazine.

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