Become a judge for the 3rd Annual North Kanto Inbound Tourism Awards!
Do you love traveling?
Do you enjoy letting people know about your travel experiences?
How would you like to be a part of an exciting Tourism competition — the first of its kind in Japan?
We are looking for ‘Travel bloggers’ and ‘Travel professionals’ who would like to become online judges for the ‘2020 North Kanto Inbound Awards’.
Thanks to the international travel community, our first North Kanto Inbound Tourism Awards held on the 28th February 2018 was a huge success.
We had 34 judges from 8 countries help us decide The best Hotel (& Ryokan) Website, The best Tourist Attraction Website and The best Promotional Tourism Video. and got tons of media coverage.
We are back for our third year and need your help again!
Since our second year we added an extra category ‘The best Destination Website’ and now have four categories.
What does it mean to be a judge?
To join our judges, you will not be required to have traveled to Japan, but need to either have experience of working in the tourism industry or have written about a travel related topic in a personal travel blog or other media.
You will have a week to judge the entries, however, the actual judging can be done at your own pace (we will send you a Google Spreadsheet to enter the scores) and it should take approximately 3-4 hours. After the winners are anounces at the award ceremony in January, each judge who helped will receive a ‘Thank you box’ with some handselected Japanese goodies such as some of the exotic Kit-Kats and a printed copy of The Award Ceremony Booklet (←this is last years booklet).
The booklet will have a page with each judge’s photos, name, and social media account introducing them to our audience.
Please read the details below and sign up using this google form if you are interested in helping out as a judge!
What are the North Kanto Inbound Awards?
The ‘North Kanto’ region just north of Tokyo has one problem.
When it comes to tourism, this area does not provide much information in English. This is especially true online.
This means that it is quite hard for overseas travellers to discover what this region has to offer. Many tourists miss out on the rich nature and culture that is available only 1-3 hours away from the central Tokyo.
With the help of overseas judges like yourself, the ‘North Kanto Inbound Awards’ will encourage the hospitality industry to prepare more English information online, making it easier for overseas tourists to enjoy.
What will I be judging?
You will be judging English websites for hotels, tourist attractions, and tourist destinations as well as short promotional videos that target English speaking tourists.
(We will send you detailed instructions along with a google spreadsheet to record your scores)
The main website for the competition can be found here (in Japanese) : https://japanworldlink.jp/kitakanto-inbound-award/
How does the judging process work?
Step 1: Please fill out this Google Form (https://forms.gle/J8x7rjeMHjPPnpJE8)
Step 2: We will email you links to approximately 12-14 websites and/or youtube videos to judge along with a Google Spreadsheet to enter your scores.
Step 3: Please email your scores back to us by the 27th of December.
Step 4: Look forward to receiving your ‘Thank you box’ and the Award Ceremony Booklet with your name and social media account included.
*You can opt-out in having your information printed in the Award Ceremony Booklet if you wish.
Thank you box
The ‘Thank you box’ contains unique Japanese goodies. It contains items such as a set of Japanese design coasters, a sushi magnet, a set of fun Japanese post-it notes and several uniquely flavored Kit-Kat bars (such as Dark luxury chocolate, Macha, Orange, Strawberry, Soy Sauce, Miso and Cranberry & almond)!
Timeline
18th December —— Closing date for submitting your application to be a judge.
27th December —— Closing date for submitting your judging scores.
January 1st —— Judges scores are added up and winners are decided.
January 17th —— Winners are announced to the public.
Application Form
Please sign up using this google form if you are interested in helping out as a judge!
Supported by
The ‘2020 North Kanto Inbound Awards’ are supported by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama & Ibaraki Prefectures, and tourist offices, Shimotsuke, Jyomo, Saitama, Ibaraki Newspaper, Female Travel Bloggers and Tracommy.
FAQ
Q1. How long does it take to judge the entries?
You will be allocated 10-16 entries, which should take 3-4 hours to judge.
Q2. When should I judge the entries?
You can judge the entries in your own time. Most people have just over a week or so to enter the judging scores and emailing it back to us.
Q3. I write a blog which includes topics other than travel. Can I apply to become a judge?
If you have articles about your travels, the majority of your blog posts do not have to be about Travel.
Q4. Can I apply as a judge if I live in Japan?
No. I’m sorry, but you cannot apply to become a judge if you live more than 50% of the time in Japan or if you can read Japanese fluently.
We are looking for people who live outside Japan and have not learned the language.
Q5. When should I expect the Thank you box?
We will send out the ‘thank you box’ on the last week of January so you should receive it by the middle of Feburary.