In the beautiful surroundings of the Barone Fortress in Šibenik, the prestigious "Golden Pen" awards were awarded tonight for the 19th time. These are awards that the Croatian National Tourist Board awards to foreign journalists, travel bloggers and influencers for the best posts about Croatia as a tourist destination in the past year, and 32 participants from 18 countries took part in tonight's ceremony.
"The past three years have been very challenging for all of us, especially for the tourism sector on a global level. However, despite all the challenges, Croatia achieved excellent results and today we enjoy the status of a destination with one of the fastest recovery in tourism. Foreign media representatives, journalists, travel bloggers and influencers also made a strong contribution to this, whose positive reporting helped immeasurably in the promotion of Croatian tourism. Our country has a positive image, which was personally verified by our guests who selflessly and sincerely shared their experiences and recommendations with their large audience. So that everything does not remain just in words, we organized this special award ceremony in order to further valorize their work and importance in the promotion of Croatian tourist destinations.", pointed out the director of the CNTB Kristjan Staničić, congratulating all the awarded participants.
Along with director Staničić and colleagues from the CNTB representative offices, the award ceremony was attended by Tonči Glavina, State Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Marko Jelić, Prefect of Šibenik Knin County, Krešimir Šakić, director of the TZ of Šibenik Knin County, Dino Karađole, Director of the TZ of the city Šibenik and numerous other guests.
"The Golden Pen is one of the best and longest-running tourism projects, which is being implemented this year in its 19th edition, and which puts all the beauties and advantages of Croatia as a tourist destination in the foreground. We may be a small country territorially, but that is why we can boast of exceptional diversity and wealth, as well as the significant contribution of great Croatian inventors whose discoveries mark the world today", said State Secretary Glavina, thanking all participants for their exceptional contribution to the promotion of Croatia.
During his address, prefect Jelić expressed a warm welcome to all participants and emphasized that Šibenik-Knin County is the most beautiful place in the world with extremely friendly hosts, but also a rich history and tradition, as confirmed by even two Šibenik localities under UNESCO protection.
The most significant award of the Golden Pen is Grand Prix, which is awarded in five categories: for for the best print or online media reportage, for the best radio reportage, for the best television reportage, for the best travel blog and for the best post on social networks.
This year 's Grand Prix winner for the best reportage of the print media is French journalist Sebastien Desurmont whose 40-page report on Croatia was published in a popular magazine GEO as part of which he showed the beauty of the national parks Krka, Brijuni and Kopački rit, as well as Kvarner, Zagreb and Slavonia.
The Grand Prix for the best TV report was taken by Małgorzata Dzieciniak from Poland for the TV show "Pytanie na Śniadanie", which is broadcast on the national television TVP2, and as part of which as many as four articles about Croatia as a quality and attractive tourist destination were published.
This year, the Grand Prix for the best radio reportage is going to China, and the prize was won by Yunzhen HOU from Shanghai Radio Station, one of the most popular and listened to stations in Shanghai, where a special show about our country "Croatian Rhapsody" was broadcasted.
Grand prix for best travel blog went to Chris Thomassen from Netherlands who visited our country for the first time during the winter. On that occasion, he also visited the Croatian continent and wrote about Croatian Zagorje, Moslavina, Opatija and Zagreb.
The Grand Prix award was also won by Paula Hernandez Paez and Borja Rodriquez Paez from Spain for the best post on social networks. Paula and Borja stayed in Croatia for five days, during which they visited Dubrovnik, as well as Koločep, Lopud, Šipan and Lokrum, and they mostly informed their many fans about wine and gastronomy, culture and natural beauty.
Let's add that during the program all the guests were entertained by Ivana Prgin from Šibenik with her inspiring jazz notes, and the artist Zvonimir Vila made sure that the awardees had a nice memory of this award, who made a statue of the award from over 100-year-old oak wood.
We also remind you that the Croatian National Tourist Board and the Tourist Boards of Šibenik-Knin County and the City of Šibenik organized a special program of visiting destinations, sights and attractions from the county for foreign journalists, travel bloggers and influencers, as part of which they visited the city of Šibenik, Krka National Park with with special emphasis on Roški waterfall, Skradinski Buk and Visovac, the fortress of St. Nikola, but also the Testament and Baraka wineries and the oyster farm Oyster22.
