[1][2] Entrants (in the early 2020s, more than 1200 annually)[3] include major media outlets, staff writers and editors, freelancers, book authors, digital communicators, and journalism fellows from such institutions as the Pulitzer Center.
Winners are announced at the SATW (Society of America Travel Writers) annual convention and receive cash prizes.
In the intervening years, new categories, including blogging, websites, video, and multi-media, were added to reflect the changing journalism landscape.
The SATW Foundation maintains a list of all winners by year; the following publications and individuals have garnered the most awards as of 2021:[52] National Geographic Traveler: 122 Seattle Times: 86 Minneapolis Star Tribune: 62 Chicago Tribune: 59 Islands magazine: 59 Los Angeles Times: 52 Outside magazine: 47 San Francisco Chronicle: 40 (20 as Examiner-Chronicle) Boston Globe: 39 Record (NJ): 39 Travel + Leisure: 38 National Geographic Adventure: 37 Oregonian: 36 Frommer's: 36 (varying media) Washington Post: 35 Orange County Register: 35 USA Today :28 New York Times: 27 Miami Herald: 22 Dallas Morning News: 21 Lonely Planet: 19 Chicago Sun-Times: 18 Afar: 17 (since 2010) New Orleans Times-Picayune: 16 Southern Living magazine: 16 Catherine Watson: Minneapolis Star Tribune 29.
Jill Schensul: (The Record/North Jersey Media Group) 29 Alan Solomon: 25 (Chicago Tribune) 25 Chris Welsch: (Minneapolis Star Tribune) 19 Gary Stoller: (Conde Nast Traveler and USA Today) 12 Christopher Reynolds: (Los Angeles Times) 11 Don George: (various media) 10