We Won Consumer Publication of the Year!

Yesterday We Are Explorers won a shiny trophy, a lot of people said a lot of nice things, and Henry drank a bottle of champagne.

The Mumbrella Publish Awards

The Mumbrella Publish Awards are a fancy industry thing. At We Are Explorers, we’re not very good at fancy industry things, so it was fitting that our first appearance at the event wasn’t in shiny dress shoes and cocktail frocks, but in sneakers and T-shirts. I watched it in my pyjamas.

But that doesn’t mean the event was any less important. Unless you’re in the media industry, you probably don’t have a clue what Mumbrella is. Basically, they cover anything under Australia’s ‘media and marketing umbrella’. Y’know, like We Are Explorers for the media biz.

We were stoked enough to be nominated. For a little company like us, mixing with the likes of Man of Many, Urban List, Australian Traveller and more was pretty speccy. It’s been a tough old year for publishing in general, so that recognition went a long way.

But Then We Bloody Won It!

Pandemonium ensued. What do you mean we won it? We are but a small fishy in tha big blue. But our name was indeed on the screen, right below the words ‘Consumer Publication of the Year’. 

The judges were saying (I’m told, I was hooting and hollering at the time) that they liked the fresh voice we were bringing to the Aussie media landscape, and that we were encouraging people to get outdoors. Which is good ‘cause that’s our whole thing.

Often in these situations, there’d be footage of the winners losing their shit. However, as we were in Mullumbimby, Scarborough, Crows Nest, Canberra and Woonona at the time, I’ll let this screenshot take its place.

Consider This Our Acceptance Speech

Award-Ceremony-From-Home has quite a few benefits, notably, we didn’t have to get up on stage to accept anything (I most definitely would have cried). But we still have some people to thank.

First up, we’re dedicating the award to Ollie Khedun. Our dear friend Ollie passed away this week, he was a gifted man behind the lens, the driving force behind the phenomenal Adventure Tales Speaker Series and, most importantly, an endlessly caring and present soul. Ollie would treat you like a lifelong friend on the day you met and he inspired us deeply. This one’s for you mate.

Next up, and the first people I want to thank, is the Explorer Project crew. We Are Explorers was built by the Explorer Project, the crew of creatives who contribute words and photos to the site, who share their hot tips and their deepest moments out there. Thanks for all you do.

We want to thank the advertisers who had faith in our platform and came back to us in hard times. Ads keep We Are Explorers free, but we know no one loves them, so we do our best to partner with brands that are making the world a better place. It’s one of our goals as a B Corp.

Speaking of, big ups to B Corp for certifying us earlier this year and bringing us into their inspiring family of businesses that are making a difference. A huge thanks to anyone who supported our Protect the Daintree crowdfunding campaign. Have you seen Rewild the Snowies? This time we’re planting a forest!

Wrap It Up!

Ok, enough blubbering. There are too many people to thank and if you know, you know.

The point is, we’re stoked to be recognised as the Consumer Publication of the Year because it confirms something we’ve kinda known for a while.

People need the outdoors. They want to live more adventurously, and whether they’re limited by knowledge of where to go, skills, time, mates or money, we intend to bridge that gap and inspire a new generation of Explorers from all walks of life.

Catch ya out there!

Meet The Team

Photos thanks to @thetantrap