Visit Knysna announces winners of this year’s Visit Knysna Tourism Month Photo Challenge
Congratulations to the winner of this year’s Visit Knysna Tourism Month Photo Challenge, Emma Rorke, who won herself a weekend getaway in the greater Knysna area that will also incorporate meal and activity vouchers.
We’re also thrilled to announce the niche winners, Tanja Bantjes, ‘Daughter Diaries’, Ruth Hattersley, and Vicky who each received a voucher to experience a unique activity or crafts from the greater Knysna area.
The Visit Knysna Tourism Month Photo Challenge ran from 24 to 27 September and more than 70 entries were received. Visitors and locals alike submitted photos of their various ‘happy places’ across the greater Knysna area on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using the hashtags #TourismMonth2020 and #KnysnaTourismMonth.
Due to the excellent weather experienced over the long weekend, the majority of the photo submissions are seen to be close to the water with children playing in the lagoons and families enjoying the beach, whilst some shoppers explored the Knysna Waterfront. Other submissions include photos of visitors at the Knysna Elephant Park, in the forest as well as at the iconic Knysna Heads, a forever-favourite photo spot. The most frequented location of all the photo submissions was the beautiful Jubilee Creek in the Goudveld Forest at Rheenendal.
Colleen Durant, general manager of Visit Knysna said, “We are very excited by the interest to participate in the competition whilst our visitors and locals were discovering or even re-discovering ‘happy places’ during the long weekend. The photos submitted were a great reflection of our beautiful region and all it has to offer to share with friends, family, and even on your own. It is always fun to show off our area and we hope people will continue exploring and sharing their photos with us.”
As part of the campaign, every morning on these dates, local travel blogger Rose Bilbrough visited some unique places in greater Knysna from where she recorded live video feeds to the Visit Knysna Facebook Page. These posts created awareness of further places to explore in the area whilst encouraging people to share their photos with us.
Locations that Rose visited included the Spitskop Viewpoint on the R339, the Garden Route Trail Park near Karatara, Wild Oats Market in Sedgefield on the Saturday morning, and the Fossil Footprints near Platbank on the Blombos trail in the Goukamma Nature Reserve.
The judging panel included Nicci Rousseau-Schmidt, owner of Knysna PR and project manager for the development of the new Visit Knysna website that is currently under production, well-known local photographer, Elle Redman and Colleen Harding, Knysna Accommodation Association (KAA) Marketing Coordinator and representative on the Visit Knysna Steering Committee.
Each judge was asked to rate the photos on a scorecard and from there the top photos were selected. These were then divided according to Knysna’s four niche categories, and an overall grand prize winner was chosen.
Executive Mayor of Knysna, Cllr Elrick van Aswegen commented: “On behalf of the Greater Knysna I wish to thank all the participants, a massive thank you for all your efforts. And to our locals who always rise to the occasion. Nothing ever seems to phase them and any request and invitation is always met with a ‘yes’.”
“Congratulations to all the winners in this year’s Visit Knysna Tourism Month Photo Challenge. The greater Knysna area has so much on offer, so I encourage them to continue exploring and taking advantage of its natural wonders and to showcase them to the world,” concluded Wesgro CEO, Tim Harris.