The Winner: Poor Uruguay!

Last night we drove out to Great Barrington and had chicken mole on the porch of a Mexican restaurant with an unpronounceable name as the rain pelted down all around us. Then it was on to business: Kent, Lisa, Cindy and I were meeting to read and judge another stack of entries into the GoNOMAD Travel Awards. After much deliberation, we all agreed on our winner.

Kelly Westhoff's proposal began like this:

Poor Uruguay. Look at a map of South America and Uruguay seems almost ready to disappear. Top heavy Brazil could swallow this tiny country whole: yet Argentina is likely to buy the joint first. Kelly will visit the tiny coastal village of Cabo Polonia in a few months.

Among the equally compelling yet just under the wire were these proposals:

Vivien Savath's 'slightly cheesy and borderline desperate proposal' to write about her parent's homeland Laos.

Robert Isenberg's "The End of the Road" a weeklong drive to the Arctic Circle, where all roads end.

Tom Koppel's 'Journey to the Ice," a journey into the Canadian High Arctic on a small Russian ship.

Carl Weaver's trip to discover Buddism and the new Thai Wine country in Loei, Thailand.

We'll mail a check for $500 to our winner Kelly this week. Bon Voyage!