The Many Faces of Mt. Rainier: Regional Writing Contest

We've launched a regional writing contest in Washington State—the Mt. Rainier Writing Contest—and the dramatic landscape of Mt. Rainier National Park is the star. Here, sample the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest: volcanoes in the Cascade Range, glaciers, waterfalls, old-growth forests, high-country meadows, lakes, hiking and snowshoe trails, and stellar views of majestic Mt. Rainier.

Our partner, Visit Rainier, has organized People's Choice Prizes that will allow winners to explore this national park:

People's Choice Grand Prize: Mt. Rainier Getaway for Two: A stay at the National Park Inn, a retreat in Mt. Rainier National park, a $200 gift card from Whittaker Mountaineering, and dinner at National Park Dining Room.

People's Choice 1st Runner-Up: Skiing at Crystal Mountain for two and dinner at Crystal's Alpine Inn.

People's Choice 2nd Runner-Up: EverGreen Escapes tour and naturalist-led hike/snowshoe for two in Mt. Rainier National Park.

Trazzler will also award a freelance contract to an Editors' Choice Prize winner to write a batch of trips about the Mt. Rainier region.

You can submit entries between September 25 and October 25, 2010, but we encourage you to enter NOW so you can get out the vote as early as possible! (Need tips on getting out the vote? Read this.)

Visit the Mt. Rainier Writing Contest.

Guide To Trazzler's Writing Contests

Trazzler Writing Contests: An Overview

Surfing trips on Trazzler is like rummaging through a chest of treasure, it’s only a matter of time until you stumble upon that hidden gem—the ideal trip for you. Our writers zoom in on particular travel moments and experiences special to them, in places both well-trekked and off-the-radar.

While we hire freelancers each month to write trips about weekend getaways or themes (such as local institutions, eco-travel, or a writer’s own travel “obsession”), we also host travel writing contests, offering Trazzlers more chances to share their favorite travel experiences—and be rewarded for sharp, inspired writing. Some of our writing contests are topical: think “On the Road” or “Smart Travel.” Other writing contests are regional, like our spring 2010 Louisville Writing Contest. For these, we encourage local writers and community institutions to participate and share spots that appeal to locals and discriminating visitors.

Ways to Win: Voting and Editorial Prizes

With the help of our past partners, including NYCGO, Sharing Aloha, and Only in San Francisco, we’ve awarded a $10,000 New York City writer-in-residence contract, a trip for two to Hawaii, 15 trips to San Francisco, dozens and dozens of freelance contracts, weekend resort stays in getaway towns like Stowe, VT, and Bend, OR, and many other goodies.

There are two ways to win: We award People’s Choice Grand Prizes to contest entries that earn the highest-number of votes, but also select Editors’ Choice Prize winners based solely on editorial quality. (The contestants never cease to impress us—while we can't reward everyone, we always award runners-up freelance contracts to the writers of our favorite entries in our big contests.)

How to Enter

Never entered a Trazzler writing contest before? It’s free and easy. On our writing contests page, find the contest that appeals to you, click “Enter Now,” and follow the prompts to the final submission page (and sign up/sign in if needed). We usually have more than one contest going at once, so be sure to submit your entry between the start and end dates.

For tips on writing a “Trazzler Trip,” read Writing Nuts and Bolts, which explains the elements of a Trazzler trip: location, title, links, tags, and a photo... Our Writing Guide goes over what makes one Trazzler Trip more attention-grabbing and appealing to our editors than another. We especially love trips that evoke the sensations within a particular place, or those that tackle a destination from a smart angle.

Tips to Get Out the Vote

While we award the very best writers with Editors’ Choice Prizes, many contest entrants who eye our People’s Choice Grand Prizes impress us with how successfully they rack up votes during voting periods, using Twitter, Facebook, their blogs, and other creative ways to spread the word about their contest entries. So, here are some starter tips on how to get out the vote for a People’s Choice Grand Prize:

• The “Share” Button is Your Friend: Use the “Share” button on your trip page to post the entry to your Facebook wall and friends’ home pages, or email it to a friend.
• Spread the Word: Publish a post on your blog with a link to your entry, asking your readers to “Save” your trip. (If they don’t have an account, they can sign up via Facebook Connect or regular sign-in, using the Trazzler tab).
• Tweet It: Share your entry’s link on your Twitter handle and ask followers to vote and retweet.
• Explain Why You Deserve to Win: Perhaps you’ll devote the trip to a meaningful or sustainable travel project, or plan to donate part of your monetary award to a nonprofit. Let your readers and followers know how you plan to spend the grand prize or contract.
• Reciprocate: Feature fellow travel writers on your blog when they vote for and share your trip on Facebook, Twitter, or elsewhere.

More Travel Writing Resources

While our travel writing philosophy is unique and we particularly love Trazzlers who nail our style, we value all kinds of travel writing—as well as the resources out there for writers like you. Here are some online communities and blogs that provide travel writing and photography tips, freelance writing/editing leads, and general usefulness in the realm of travel writing:

• Written Road: Written Road has the scoop on freelance writing gigs and competitions, writing resources, industry news, message forums, and destination guides. Lots of relevant information here!
• Travel Writers Exchange: TWE, a community of travel writers, bloggers, and journalists, offers tips on blogging, understanding how best to use social media, getting published (and making some dough), and a helpful discussion forum.
• Travellerspoint: Wondering what camera equipment to pack on a trip? Looking for the best spots around the world for stellar shots? Peep their travel photography forum. (Also, TravelBlogs.com, part of Travellerspoint, provides tips for bloggers and features blogs that inspire writers to start their own.)
• Travels of Adam: Adam, a graphic designer on an inspiring trek around the world, offers a mix of musings and images from his travels, but also posts useful info for fellow bloggers, from current travel promotions (for July 2010) to a blogger’s guide to WordPress security.
• Rolf Potts: Veteran columnist and Vagabonding author Rolf Potts compiles insightful travel writing advice for both aspiring and experienced writers, from how to get a travel book published to essential tips for budding bloggers.
• Shannon Lane: Shannon, the creator of TravelingMamas.com, posts pieces about travel blogging that spur interesting comments; she offers tips on how to keep your blog alive when you’re not traveling, explains why social media is essential to the travel industry and kicks off a discussion about bloggers versus writers.
• BootsnAll: The travel guide provides essential travel photography tips (from cropping properly to taking non-flash shots) and has a useful travel writing forum on contests, competitions, and calls for submissions.

Trazzler Maps

We made significant improvements to Trazzler maps. Now we're plotting every Trazzler trip on every map view. Check it out and please let us know what you think.

On the Road Writing Contest--Sponsored by Fairmont Hotels

15 Prizes totaling $6000 and 80 nights at luxury Fairmont Hotels and Resorts around the world (choose among 50+ locations). >Details
Summer is upon us, which means a flurry of trip planning and happy escapism. We think a trip can be much more than a constellation of must-see places--isn't travel really about the movement and momentum that it takes to connect the dots? Jack Kerouac put it succinctly: "the road is life." For our next contest, we want you to write about the road: the in-between places, quirky attractions, scenic drives, irresistible pitstops, natural oases, sleepy forgotten towns, places of pilgrimage, roadside enigmas, monuments, crossroads, and one-of-a-kind ways of getting from point A to point B. Our winners will get a chance to hit the road in style--we're giving away $6,000 and 80 free nights in any of Fairmont's 50+ eligible luxury hotels all over the world.

Trazzler Slideshows

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