FIJET Hrvatska: Our Tourist Stories portal received professional recognition for a series of authentic stories from Croatia

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the World Federation of Journalists and Writers in Tourism, and the 60th anniversary of its Croatian member, this year's awards for travel journalists and writers in tourism - FIJET Croatia, under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, were awarded at a ceremony held at the Esplanade Hotel in Zagreb. Ministry of Culture and Media. For the fourteenth time, awards and recognitions have been awarded to the best journalists, travel writers and authors, whose works marked the year behind us.

Among the awardees at this ceremony was i Mirjam Jukić, editor of our Tourist Stories portal which saw the light of day at the end of April 2020. Over the past four years, more than five thousand tourist stories have been told on the portal, mostly from Croatia, and a large part of them are authored by Mirjam Jukić. However, apart from Turistički pritki, Mirjam successfully promoted Croatian destinations as a "guest journalist" on the HrTurizam portal.

Her work did not go unnoticed for what it is received the award "Plaque with the image of Marco Polo" for the best domestic reports and travelogues published on the Turističke piče portal. Let us remind you that this is not the first FIJET award for the Turističke piče and HrTurizam portals. Four years ago, Goran Rihelj, the founder and editor-in-chief of the HrTurizam portal, received the FIJET Hrvatska award for publishing reports and articles about Croatian destinations.

Except for Mirjam Jukić award for the best domestic reports and travelogues published in the 2023/2024 season. they got i Philip Nicolaides from Cyprus for a series of reports published about Zagreb, Frano Herendija was awarded for the magazine In Love with Konavle, which covers stories about the cultural and historical heritage of Konavle, Maja Zlokić she was awarded for tourist stories and reports from hidden and authentic destinations with traditional events, published in Croatia Hot Spots magazine, Rade Popadić for the project of authentic stories Pečat od vrimena, which shows life in Dalmatian Zagora in a distinctive way, published on Video/TV and the portal Dalmacija Danas, then Senka Vlahović for the report "Osijek, a romantic, relaxed and self-effacing town on the Drava" published on the website Putovanja.hr while a writer Miro Raven awarded for an exceptional contribution to the promotion of Croatian culture and literature in the world.

According to the proposal of the international jury, the most prestigious award MARCO POLO GRAND PRIX they are rewarded university professor Božo Skoko and diplomat Zvonimir Frka-Petešić, the authors of the successful book Croatia in 30 stories, which was published in Croatian, English and French by Ljevak and Večernji list, and for a full year was the best-selling Croatian non-fiction book in the fields of society, history and politics. 

Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented Anti Gavranović, the doyen of Croatian and especially tourism journalism and one of the founders of FIJET Hrvatska and Tina Eterović Čubrilo for an exceptional contribution to the development of tourism journalism in the country and the world and for the affirmation of author's projects in FIJET Croatia.

Maja Zagoričnik and Iztok Škofić from Slovenia were awarded the Grand Prix Marco Polo award for the TV film about Tunisia. She received the FIJET Tolerance award Sandra Peović for the exceptional promotion of tolerance and understanding of diversity through sport and Zadar festival of tolerance to promote intercultural dialogue and understanding of diversity through films, exhibitions and various educational content.

During the ceremony, special awards were also given to the most successful tourist author's projects. Awards were given to: Marija Crnjak from Jutarnji list for an exceptional contribution to tourism journalism, Nikola Baraka from the Croatian Travel Festival Šibenik for an exceptional contribution to the promotion of travelogues with inspiring stories about the journeys of travel writers, travelers and people whose careers and lives are then Festival of Adventurers "Mate World" from Vrgorac for the annual meeting of world-class travelers, travel writers, adventurers, adventurers and all lovers of travel, Jerko Sladoljev for an exceptional contribution to the promotion and development of camping tourism, Lovinac tourist forum for the organization of the Oxygene concert at Tulovi gredem on Majstorska cesta, a unique musical event at one of the most fascinating Croatian historical, natural and cultural rarities, Jasmina Mrkonje for exceptional media communication in the promotion of Rastok, one of the most beautiful villages in the world, declared in 2023.

Special awards for their contribution in connecting culture and tourism were received by: Dalmatian klapa festival Omiš for special merits in promoting, preserving, popularizing and developing the musical culture of klapa songs in Croatia and Dagmar Meneghello for the successful connection and promotion of culture and tourism.

By the way, FIJET is the oldest and largest professional association of travel journalists and writers about tourism, founded in Paris in 1954 by travel journalists from France, Belgium and Luxembourg. The "Marko Polo – famous travel writer" project, adopted in 2006, annually awards the best authors and travelogues of local and foreign journalists. Many award-winning travelogues have contributed to the discovery of lesser-known destinations in Croatia and abroad, and the authors belong to the very top of European tourism journalism and journalism.

Source of cover photo: FIJET