Bustin' my buttons over this:
Veteran News-Herald staffer Janet Podolak has won a handful of honors from the Society of American Travel Writers, awarded at the group’s March 31 to April 5 Central States conference in Tulsa, Okla.
In the competition for 2013 work she took first place honors in the contest’s category Best Travel Story for Ecology Conservation for her Nov. 10 story about the Calanques, France’s newest national park and won a second place for France Sparkles in the category Best Newspaper Travel Article Featuring an International Destination. Her Oct. 13 story about how joining the Global Entry Program  is saving her time while traveling won a third place in the contest’s Best Travel How-to/ Consumer Reporting category. Her series about Montenegro won a third place in the contest’s Best Newspaper Series category. Her News-Herald Food and Travel Blog won an honorable mention in Best Travel Blog category.
In addition to directing to News-Herald’s monthly travel section, Podolak’s feature writing covers the areas of Food, Health, Religion and community. She also writes Local Flavors, a weekly food column that appears each Thursday. Podolak has been with The News-Herald since 1971 and lives in Mentor.
Members of SATW’s Central States Chapter live in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. They were the contest’s competitors.
Read  the award winning stories by clicking on copy above.