Dawn M. Barclay Presented Coveted Gold Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation

The Society of American Travel Writers Foundation has presented their coveted gold Lowell Thomas Award to local Rockland County Realtor/author Dawn M. Barclay for her book, “Traveling Different: Vacation Strategies for Parents of the Anxious, the Inflexible, and the Neurodiverse.” The award was presented in the guidebook category at the organization’s 2023 conference held September 7-11 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Lowell Thomas Awards are to travel journalism what the Academy Awards are to filmmaking. Past recipients include famed travel journalist Rick Steves, as well as renowned travel publications such as National Geographic Traveler, Travel & Leisure, Fodor’s Travel, and Lonely Planet.

Barclay, a GRI and SRES who has lived in Rockland since 1999, brands herself as Rockland’s Real Estate novelist and has sold real estate in the Hudson Valley for the past 25 years. Now an Associate Broker with Century 21 Full Service Realty, she formerly worked with Rand Realty when it was still affiliated with Prudential, and Keller Williams Hudson Valley Realty.

The 2023 Lowell Thomas Awards received a near-record 1430 entries in 30 different categories. Judging was overseen by the University of Missouri School of Journalism with Emeritus Prof. John Fennell and Prof. Jennifer Rowe coordinating 25 judges this year.

This is not the first award for Traveling Different, considered by many to be the autism travel bible. It received a starred review from Library Journal upon publication and won first prize in the Maxy Awards earlier this year. It also received Honorable Mention from the American Society of Journalists and Authors in their 2023 Arlene Awards for Books That Make a Difference. This is also not the first travel writing award for Barclay, who also won the 1992 First Prize for Travel Writing (Other) from the Society of Professional Journalists for her story in Travel Life titled, T.A. Law.

Barclay is a member of NAR, NYSAR, SATW and ASJA. She is also a fiction author, with several psychological and domestic suspense novels published as D.M. Barr (www.dmbarr.com).