Tuesday 7 October 2008

World Nomads launches Travel Scholarship to Kerala!


Go on an assignment to Kerala with Footprint Travel Guides! Kick start your travel writing career by going on assignment to Kerala, India. You will enjoy a 10 day tour with The Blue Yonder, offering unique insight into the River Nila civilization. Then, after touching base with your travel writing mentor - David Stott, you will hit the road for 10 days reviewing and writing for the Footprint India Handbook!


The River Nila offers countless opportunities to witness thrilling folk performances, far beyond the tourist trail. Photo © David Stott

Assignment brief from worldnomads.com :

* We'll fly you to India from your country of residence. You need to be available between February 16th and March 7, 2009 to participate on the Blue Yonder Tour and Footprint travel writing assignment.
*Your Kerala journey with The Blue Yonder will give you unique insight into the River Nila region. With a focus on sustainable tourism, the tour is specifically tailored for the lucky scholarship recipient to inspire your travel writing , and you will be personally escorted by a TBY interpreter.
*The ten day tour will include interactions with musicians, folk artists, bell metal workers, potters, sand miners, fire worshippers and ritualistic healers. You will also be planting saplings at the 'Traveller's Forest' a community driven eco-restoration project.The tour will be based on the age-old tradition of story telling that reveals the uniqueness of the region and the importance of rivers for a sustainable life.
*After touching base with your mentor - David Stott, you will research, review and update essential travel info including accommodation, bars & restaurants, entertainment, shopping, tours, activities and transport, as well as searching out those local secrets that travellers want to read about.
* Your mentor will be at hand to offer guidance, but essentially this is your assignment; you will travel on your own for this part of the journey so you must be comfortable travelling solo. David will assign you a specific local area based on your travelling experience.
* The fruits of your labour will feature in the new edition of the Footprint Inida Handbook, placing your foot firmly in the door of the elusive travel writing industry!


Assignment location:

While Kerala is ranked as a top ten destination in the world, some parts of Kerala still remain unknown and unvisited. The river Nila, the longest river in Kerala (209kms) offers one of the most unique cultural experiences as it has an ancient and steeped in tradition river civilization. Be it the classical Kathakali or ritualistic folk art forms or temple festivals or literary traditions, you can trace a definite and indelible impact of the river Nila in each and every aspect.

The recipient of the Scholarship, along with the best entries will be published on the WorldNomads.com website on January 23, 2009. Applications close midnight January 9, 2009.(AEST): Apply now here:

For any further information, please read this section:
© The Blue Yonder 2008

3 comments:

Michael said...

Many small luxury river cruises also have naturalists, historians and other experts onboard to educate and entertain cruisers. They offer informal lectures, lead expeditions and answer questions. Completely narrated excursions and sightseeing are generally a part of the price of the cruise. Luxury cabins of the cruise feature historic decor and luxurious appointments, thus offering comfort and convenience to those cruisers who wish to travel around important and historical sites. Many of the small luxury river cruises have single-seating dining and nightly entertainment in elegant showrooms. Voluntourism

Anonymous said...

Great exposure for TBY! Nice competition also :)

As I am working at a tourism Universtity in The Netherlands (www.nhtv.nl) I have promoted your scholarship here a bit as well. I've placed some messages on bulletin boards for the students and I'll make sure that it is promoted in the bi-weekly student newsletter. We also have a 1-week seminar about travel writing for the students which is running in a couple of weeks. The involved lecturer was also interested in taking it up in her classes, maybe even adapt the assignments to it :) So if you see a couple of entries coming in from Breda, The Netherlands, you know where they are coming from ;)

Anonymous said...

Very interesting. Is this open to Indians as well ? or restricted only to international candidates?