The fifth edition of the MTA Malta Tourism Press Awards was recently held at the Xara Lodge in the limits of Rabat.

The main objective is to honour journalists, TV producers and photographers from all over the world, whose work, published during 2013, helped promote and enhance tourism to the Maltese Islands.

Malta Tourism Authority CEO Josef Formosa Gauci presented the awards to the six winners.

Spanish writer Flaminia Pelazzi Cardona came top in the Magazine Article category for her piece Malta: The Sweetest Mediterranean Island, which was published in Lonely Planet Traveller.

The Newspaper Article winner was Juliet Rix from the UK, who wrote A Weekend in Valletta for Times of Malta.

Andrea Helmuth from Germany picked up the Online/ Video/Blog gong for Challenge Yourself published on www.trailrunning.de.

French author Nadine Altmayer’s story Malte, un archipel aux multiples facettes, which was published by Voyages et Stratégie, won the MICE Article category.

Joris Lugtigheid of the Netherlands was presented with the Photography Reportage award for Malta: The Best-kept Secret of the Mediterranean Sea in Bike and Trekking.

And finally, Italian broadcaster Donatella Bianchi won the Television Documentary category for her work on Linea Blu-Malta, shown on RAI Uno.