Introducing the World Nomads Content Creator Scholarship

In 2014, a writing competition changed my life forever.

I had never considered myself to be a decent writer. Sure, I kept a journal of our travels through Central America, but the notion of being a ‘professional travel writer’ was far beyond my imagination. It was just something I did for fun and to keep track of memories.

A little travel blog named NOMADasaurus had become my outlet for sharing the stories of our journey. A quiet corner of the internet where friends and family would check in to see what Alesha and I were up to as we wandered the globe.

I knew that some were making a living from documenting their travels, either through blogs, photography, videos or social media, but I had no idea how.

When a friend encouraged me to enter the 2014 World Nomads Travel Writing Scholarship, I hesitated strongly.

It sounded like an incredible opportunity, giving 3 lucky people the chance to be mentored by an award-winning travel writer and coached into the industry.

But of course, I wasn’t good enough to be in with a chance. I barely graduated high school, had never received any journalism education and knew nothing about what it takes to tell a good tale.

Still, with nothing to lose, I penned a story about our old Canadian campervan, Latoya, and sent it in with 15 minutes to spare before the deadline closed.

A few weeks later, I received an email from World Nomads:

“Your entry has been chosen as a WINNING entry in our 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship. Congratulations!”

Things would never be the same again.

In August that year I flew to Berlin with two other recipients, Rachel and Amanda, to meet with Alex Leviton, a renowned travel writer.

We took part in an intense 3-day workshop that explored the power of storytelling, an introduction to journalism and how to pitch ideas to editors.

I was then set free on an all-expenses-paid trip around Europe to create stories for World Nomads. A fully-fledged insight to what it’s like to be a professional content creator.

For the next two years I muscled my way into the travel writing industry, using the skills I learned to become a contributing writer for some of the largest media outlets in the world, including BBC Travel, CNN, Yahoo!, Business Insider and Forbes.

These…