This was published 6 years ago
Australian travel writer of the year 2017: Catherine Marshall wins at ASTW awards
Catherine Marshall's journey on the Eastern & Oriental Express won best international story.
Traveller contributor Catherine Marshall has been named travel writer of the year for 2017 at the annual Australian Society of Travel Writers awards.
Marshall took out the award based on three feature articles, including a piece for Traveller about Africa's great bat migration in Zambia.
Marshall's visit to Kasanka National Park near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo inspired the story, where she witnessed 12 million fruit bats gather to feast on the fruit of the region that becomes ripe from late October to early January each year.
Travel writer of the year: Catherine Marshall.
Read the full story: How to witness one of nature's greatest spectacles
Marshall also won the award for best international story over 1000 words for her Traveller feature about riding on the Eastern & Oriental Express from Singapore to Thailand.
"This is a slow, deliberate form of travel; it brings to life the landscapes stretching out between the city we've departed from, and the one in which we've just arrived," she wrote.
Read the full story here: South-east Asia's greatest, most luxurious train journey
Traveller columnist Ben Groundwater, a two-time winner of the travel writer of the year award, picked up the award for the best international story under 1000 words for his piece on drinking mare's milk in Mongolia – an experience he did not find particularly pleasing.
"It would be easy to romanticise this moment," he wrote. "You could see this offering as a connection between our two worlds; you could picture our pairs of hands, one gnarled and chipped, the other pasty and soft, reaching out across a cultural divide. That is, until the first sip."
Read the full story here: The things you have to do to please your hosts
The Australian Society of Travel Writers is a professional body representing travel media in Australia, comprising more than 300 writers, editors, photographers, public relations professionals, bloggers and social influencers.
The awards were judged by a selection of independent industry professionals.
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