Media Alert: 2017 FTF Teen Writing Scholarships Open

Teens earn up to $1,000 for their stories in merit scholarship.

(New York, NY- May 14, 2017) Calling all teen travel writers! Family Travel Forum, the award winning vacation planning resource for travel with kids, has opened the 11th annual Teen Travel Writing Scholarship. Applications must be submitted by July 14, 2017.

For the past 10 years the scholarship has awarded over $17,000 in scholarships to teens who share their stories in words and images. Three winners will receive cash grants of $1,000, $500, and $250, as well as a GoBag Travel Bag from sponsor Allianz Global Assistance. Honorable mentions will receive a subscription to Lonely Planet Magazine.

The FTF Teen Travel Writing Scholarship is a merit scholarship competition for American and Canadian students, and American students abroad. They must be enrolled in junior high, high school, or in a home school program, and be between the ages of 13 and 18.  More than 50,000 students have shared their stories over the years. To be considered, students must submit an essay with a maximum of 600 words, accompanied by a photo or video. The essay can be about any trip the student has taken in the last five years. The top stories will be published on Family Travel Forum’s site MyFamilyTravels.com.

Judging will be held in a series of rounds by Family Travel Forum interns and staff, assisted by our invaluable volunteers from the Journalism Education Association (JEA), Tourism Cares, Society of Professional Journalists, and Society of American Travel Writers (SATW). Winners will be notified by email on October 2, 2017. For more information, eligibility, rules and scholarship applications, visit myfamilytravels.com/teen_travel_writing.

Special thanks to our 2017 sponsors Travel Media Showcase, TMS Family Travel, Allianz Global Assistance, ScholarTrips, SATW, JEA, Tourism Cares, SPJ the Society of Professional Journalists, CityPASS, and Lonely Planet for their support. For more information about our sponsors, FTF grants and scholarships for college, please visit scholarship.familytravelforum.com.

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About Family Travel Forum
Family Travel Forum has been the trusted vacation planning resource for parents and grandparents since 1996. Over the years, staff and contributing writers who Have Kids, Still Travel! have given the community an award-winning resource for travelling families featuring accurate and up to date information on the latest destinations, products, and trends in travel. FTF’s content has been seen on Disney’s Family.com and other sites, in “America’s Most Popular Family Vacations,” “The Complete Idiots Guide to the Best Family Destinations,” “Amazing Places to Take Your Kids in North America,” and by millions of travelling families. FTF co-hosts the annual TMS Family Travel summits and  conferences, as well as running “The Family Vacationist” blog and Family Travel Consulting, in partnership with Taking the Kids.

About Allianz Global Assistance
Operating in 34 countries, Allianz Global Assistance is a leading insurance and assistance company that provides insurance to 25 million U.S. customers annually. The company is best known for its Allianz Travel Insurance plans, which protect travelers from unexpected trip cancellations or losses while traveling. Plans are available in annual or per trip coverage. The company's partners include leading travel agencies, airlines and other travel suppliers. Allianz Global Assistance also supports student travel by providing merit scholarships through their ScholarTrips essay contest. Last year six grand prize winners each received a $2,500 scholarship.

About Society of American Travel Writers
Founded in 1955, the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) is a tax-exempt, professional association, whose 1,100 members include journalists, editors, photographers, filmmakers, bloggers, and communications professionals who specialize in the travel industry in Canada and the United States. SATW is committed to promoting responsible journalism, providing professional support and development for our members and encouraging the conservation and preservation of travel resources worldwide.