Many thanks to the hundreds of writers who entered Stories For Survival, our 2025 PureTravel Writing Competition, in association with the UK charity Explorers Against Extinction.
It’s been a tough job, initially narrowing the entries to just twelve for our head judge Jeremy Lazell to choose from. Jeremy enjoyed reading all of the shortlisted works and has written thoughts and comments on the winner and two runners-up that will be published with the articles over the coming weeks.
Winner
The Dust of Aksehir by Gurkan Avci
You can read the story and judges comments by clicking on its title above.
“I entered the Puretravel Travel Writing Competition just to give it a try, so finding out I actually won was an incredible surprise! Having my story chosen by the jury made me both extremely happy and even more confident about writing. Being selected as the 2025 winner is a huge honour. Thank you so much for the prize – this support is fantastic motivation to keep travelling and collecting new stories. Lots of love to the Puretravel team and the jury!” Gürkan Avcı
2nd Place:
Not Just Bali by Keyuan Cao
Third Place:
A Descent into Presence by Kitti Nemeth
Congratulations to Gurkan, the two runners-up and all the short-listed authors. We have really enjoyed reading all you work.
All runners-up and short-listed articles will be published on PureTravel in the coming weeks so look forward to some great reading!
The Judge: Jeremy Lazell
Jeremy Lazell worked for eight years as a trekking guide before turning to writing, a decision he’s had plenty of time to regret while sleeping in a hammock 200ft up in the Borneo rainforest for the Sunday Times, all but drowning in Scotland while rafting for GQ, and hooking nothing but his own cheek while fishing in Belize for Food & Travel. Based at the foot of the Scottish Highlands, where he lives with his wife and three boys, Jeremy writes about 90% of his material for the Sunday Times Travel Section, specialising in adventure travel, family holidays, and whatever round-ups help pay the bills. He has also worked for Conde Nast Traveller and Esquire magazines.
Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash
