IFWTWA is proud to give back to the food, wine and travel industries by selecting promising students preparing for employment in the tourism and hospitality industries to receive our Hospitality Education Scholarship (HES) Award. We are pleased to award the 2018 scholarship to Darelle Rancap, a student in the Olympic College Culinary Arts Program in Bremerton, Washington, USA.

Darelle Rancap consistently maintains high academic performance and has a passion for learning and succeeding in the culinary arts. She has taken on leadership and supervisory roles with new incoming students, and she has been involved with every culinary event in which the college has engaged, both on and off campus. 

Darelle excels at plating and artistic presentation of her food. She plans to complete her education in the culinary arts and continually progress in the workforce with the goal of becoming an executive chef. 

"The wine world has its share of eponymous regions; so famous, that just the mere murmur of their name evokes a sense of wonder.  Chateauneuf-du-Pape is one of those regions. The rich, bold and sensuous red wines that are created from this parcel of land in the south of France have been renowned for hundreds of years. For those of us who love wine Chateauneuf-du-Pape is practically a place of pilgrimage.

It doesn’t matter from which direction you approach the village. Whether it’s from the rocky plateaus to the north and the city of Orange, from the east and the medieval town of Courthezon, or from the flowing Rhone River to the west – the omnipresent ruins of the famed chateau acts as a beacon to the wine-lover.

"For whiskey enthusiasts, a visit to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail is a premier trip to make. For bourbon fans, it’s Mecca. Ninety-five percent of the world’s bourbon is made in Kentucky where the limestone encrusted spring-fed waters contribute to the flavors of these delicious whiskeys."  Nancy Zaffaro

Nancy Zaffaro, Confetti Travel Cafe is a long-time bourbon fan. This was not her first visit to the region, but on this trip, she was traveling solo, arrived in Louisville during very heavy rains and had only one day to spare. Taking one of Mint Julep Tours’ all-day Bourbon tours was the way to go. Find out more: Tour the Kentucky Bourbon Trail with Mint Julep Tours 

Every year, IFWTWA members enter their best work for the Excellence in Journalism Award competition. Many entries prove our IFWTWA members have what it takes to excel in the food, wine and travel writing fields but only one entry rises to the top.

Please join us in congratulating Kristin Henning, winner of the 2018 Excellence in Journalism Award for her story Finding Your Rhythm on the Camino de Santiago published at Travel Past 50.

“Finding Your Rhythm on the Camino de Santiago” virtually puts the reader on the road with Kristin. The story is not only rich in its descriptions of the experience but also explores the question of what might motivate one to take on the popular pilgrimage. The story goes beyond mere place to plumb the depths of what makes walking the Camino a transformative experience.

"If the Middle East is on your bucket list, Qatar is a country you won’t want to miss. Aside from being one of the wealthiest economies and the country with the highest per capita income in the world, you’ll find this destination teeming with culture, uber-luxurious hotels and some pretty amazing food."  Beth Graham

Beth Graham is featured on BlendRadioandTV.com, in the weekly Big Blend e-Newsletter, and her article appears in the February-April issue of Big Blend Radio & TV Magazine. Beth shares travel tips and chats about travel to the Middle East with Big Blend's hosts Lisa & Nancy. Listen in at your leisure:

The International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association is proud to announce DIGIPROVE as an official sponsor. Online theft of photos and stories is a constant threat to writers and artists. Internet scammers threaten and try to extort users into paying fees for alleged copyright violations. Digiprove protects the theft of stories and photos published by our journalists on our flagship publication, Food, Wine & Travel Magazine.

IFWTWA is very much aware of this threat and takes the lead among industry Associations with a unique proactive approach to protect the work of our members. Thanks to our exclusive arrangement with Digiprove, all member stories on Food, Wine & Travel Magazine are signed with one-time irrefutable cryptographic signatures conferring copyright protections on member stories and photos. The proof is stored on Digiprove's servers as third-party authentication.