Journalists Receive CMEx Media Awards

A St. Lucian broadcast journalist, a writer from Guyana and an international travel trade reporter are recipients of the Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMEx) Journalism Excellence Awards.

Broadcaster Timothy Poleon of RCI International in St. Lucia; Neil Marks of the Guyana Chronicle; and Travel Weekly’s Gay Nagle Myers of New Jersey received Counterpart International’s CMEx awards on Sunday evening at Windjammer Landing Villa Beach Resort and Spa.

“We are pleased to recognize excellence in reporting on sustainable tourism and on the important issue of climate change,” said Lelei LeLaulu, president of Counterpart International, a Washington DC-based nonprofit organization.

Congratulating the winners, St. Lucia’s tourism minister Senator Allen Chastanet said St. Lucia is proud to play its part in efforts to maintain and promote the Caribbean as one of the world’s premier destinations for sustainable tourism development.

The fact St. Lucia has agreed to host the event each year is “a significant development both in the context of our development and that of the Caribbean.”

The Tourism and Aviation Minister, who formally addressed the conference at both the Royal St. Lucian and Bay Gardens Beach Resort on Sunday, said CMEx plays a “very significant role” in educating the media on various tourism issues since it was initiated six years ago.

Over the weekend, the Caribbean Media Exchange –launched by Counterpart International in 2001- attracted reporters, editors, young people and development specialists who interacted face-to-face with representatives of the hospitality sector, civil society and government to explore the theme “Caribbean Tourism: Another Level of Innovation.”