Travel Agent’s Senior Editor Joe Pike was honored Friday, June 10 by the Jamaica Tourist Board, in association with the Caribbean Tourism Organization, with the Marcia Vickery-Wallace Memorial Award for Excellence in Travel Journalism. The award is given annually to an editor or journalist who has made a major contribution in providing the trade and/or consumer with information on the developments in the Caribbean through the media.
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The award was first introduced in 1987 as a tribute to Marcia Vickery-Wallace, a former editor of Bride’s Magazine. Horace Sutton was the first recipient and other winners include Maggie Zellers, Kay Showker, Edith Baxter, Ian Keown, Barbara Gilliam and Nancy Novogrod, among many other distinguished writers.
Pike joined Travel Agent three years ago and has served as the magazine’s Caribbean, Bahamas & Bermuda, Mexico, and Central & South America editor for the last two. Previously, Pike was a newspaper reporter for The Asbury Park Press based in the Jersey Shore, covering local news. He received his Master's Degree in Newspaper, Magazine and Online Journalism from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He recently returned from the Yokoso! Japan Travel Mart 2009 in Yokohama, Japan. Before that, Pike covered the Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Pike also recently launched his own travel blog, www.thejoepikeblog.com.