Newsday’s Jeff Mayers is CTO Awards finalist

THE Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) has announced the finalists for the Caribbean Travel Media Awards, which will be held at the Wyndham New Yorker Hotel on June 6, during Caribbean Week New York in June.

Newsday's acting photographic editor Jeff Mayers has been selected in the Oh Snap! Best Photograph in Conjunction with a Feature Article category, along with six other people.

Mayers' photo, accompanying Marshelle Haseley's Trinidad Carnival...More Than Meets The Eye – Panache, was the one that caught the eyes of the judges.

Other competitors in that category are Raymesh Cintron: photo accompanying We Want to Show the Islands as They Have Never Been Seen Before – Cacique; Brian Finke: photo accompanying Marta Cerdà's Razing Cane: To Taste Haiti's Small Batch Rum is to Cut to the Heart of What Makes the Island Worth Exploring" – AFAR, Golden Mic: Best Feature Broadcast; Jason Kidd: Live from Sandals Grenada with Ria Murray – WRQX Mix 107.3; Donna Perkins: Episide on Negril, Jamaica – Andiamo Uptown; and Ryan Seacrest: Segment on The Bahamas – Live with Kelly and Ryan.

It is the second incarnation of the expanded media awards programme which the CTO has staged for the past two decades to honour travel journalists and other professionals whose exceptional work has raised the profile of the Caribbean brand and helped the region achieve its tourism goals.

CTO assembled a panel of expert media and travel industry judges to review submissions and determine the award-winners, led by head judge Mark Orwoll, a veteran travel journalist who was on the staff of Travel + Leisure for 29 years, including stints as managing editor and international editor.

Other judges included Tiffany Dowd, founder and president, Luxe Social Media; TT’s Tony Fraser, veteran journalist and part-time lecturer in journalism; Pauline Frommer, co-president of Frommer Media LLC; Terry Gallagher, president of Lou Hammond Group, New York; Fran Golden, an award-winning travel writer; Mark Edward Harris, award-winning photographer; Josh Kahn, tourism industry consultant and public relations specialist; Norie Quintos, an award-winning journalist and editor at large for National Geographic Travel Media; and James Shillinglaw, founder and editor-in-chief of Insider Travel Report.

The winners will be announced at the CTO Awards Gala during Caribbean Week New York, an elegant awards ceremony and dinner on June 6.