Thrilled and Grateful: A Two-Time National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards Finalist

I’m thrilled to share that I’ve been named a two‑time finalist for the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards, nominated for Podcast Host of the Year and for my episode on Make Your Own Map: “Tara Schuster Isn’t Afraid to Go There—And You’ll Be Glad She Did” (J7. One‑on‑One Interview, Arts/Culture Personalities, Radio/Podcasts, J1. Anchor/Host). Over the years, I’ve received 42 nominations and 11 wins—each one a wonderful acknowledgement of the storytelling and connection I aim to create. The awards gala will take place on December 4 at The Biltmore, an evening that celebrates journalism, creativity, and community. I’m deeply grateful to the Los Angeles Press Club and to Diana Ljungaeus for her outstanding leadership and support of the organization and its members. I’m especially thankful because these nominations aren’t just acknowledgments of a single conversation or segment—they represent the ongoing work of listening closely, asking honest questions, and creating space for others to share their stories with vulnerability, humor, and heart. Tara’s episode was exactly that—real, brave, and generous. Being recognized for it reminds me why I started this podcast: to help us all make our own maps, to take the next step even when the path isn’t clear, and to celebrate the power of storytelling to connect, inspire, and heal. It’s energizing to be recognized alongside so many exceptional nominees—writers, broadcasters, journalists, and creators whose work changes the world one story at a time. These nominations reinforce my commitment to producing thoughtful, engaging content that resonates far beyond the microphone, and to honoring the voices and experiences of the people I’m privileged to interview. Here’s to celebrating all the nominees, honoring our collective voice, and continuing to lift each other up in the work we do.

J. RADIO/PODCASTS

J1. Anchor/Host

• Lisa Niver, Make Your Own Map Podcast, “Make Your Own Map: Are YOU Ready to be BRAVE?”
• Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter, “Awards Chatter”
• Caroline Feraday, KCLU Radio, “Disney earworm about global unity getting a new lease on life”
• Jeff Goldsmith, The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith, “The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith, Agatha All Along, Andor S2, White Lotus”
• Michael Schneider, Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangca

  J7. One-on-One Interview, Arts/Culture Personalities

• Lisa Niver, Make Your Own Map Podcast, “Tara Schuster Isn’t Afraid to Go There—And You’ll Be Glad She Did”
• Justin Chapman, Apple Podcasts, “Well Read with Justin Chapman (featuring Gerry Adams)”
• Austin Cross, LAist, “A Beloved Character From Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood of Make-Believe Turns 80”
• Caroline Feraday, KCLU Radio, “The rise of the Nazis with a side of dancing: Cabaret comes to town!”
• Deborah Zara Kobylt, YouTube, iHeart Radio Podcasts, “Tom Dreeson talks about life on the road with Sinatra & discovering his dad was his uncle”

LINK https://open.spotify.com/episode/03II4EZFU4jhdWrzVzJOWJ Make Your Own Map Podcast Make Your Own Map Podcast on Spotify

WINNER: Southern California Journalism Awards 2025

I’m incredibly honored and grateful to share that at the 67th Southern California Journalism Awards, hosted by the Los Angeles Press Club, I received my first-ever First Place award — in the Lifestyle Feature category for my podcast, Make Your Own Map — and was also awarded Third Place for Online Journalist of the Year. These honors mean the world to me — not just for the awards themselves, but for what they represent: years of storytelling, reinvention, and the courage to keep creating across new platforms.

This year, I was named a five-time finalist, and throughout my career, I’ve now received more than 40 nominations from the Los Angeles Press Club. I’m proud to have been recognized for work in broadcast, print, digital, television, and podcasting — a full-circle moment for someone who believes in telling stories that move, inform, and inspire. As a TV host, travel journalist, and creator of both We Said Go Travel and the Make Your Own Map podcast, I’ve built my career around curiosity, connection, and the joy of saying yes to new adventures.

Whether I’m interviewing changemakers, exploring new destinations, or writing about reinvention, my goal has always been to encourage others to explore boldly, ask big questions, and — most of all — make their own map. Thank you to the judges, the Los Angeles Press Club, and to everyone who has supported me on this journey. I’m so grateful — and excited for what comes next.

2025: 5 Finalist Nominations. 4 Categories. 1 Storytelling Heart. I’m honored and thrilled to be named a 5-time finalist in the 67th Southern California Journalism Awards, presented by the Los Angeles Press Club. With more than 2,500 entries submitted—breaking all previous records—this year’s awards spotlight the most impactful storytelling across media. My work has been recognized in four categories—spanning podcasting, TV, travel, and digital journalism—and reflects my continued passion for sharing powerful, meaningful stories of place, purpose, and people making a difference. From TV segments and podcast episodes to lifestyle features, each piece honors the culture, connections, and experiences that move us. Lifestyle Feature (Podcast) “How Alex Jimenez Transformed Her Passion into a Thriving Travel Community” On Make Your Own Map, Alex opens up about building Travel Fashion Girl and Women’s Travel Fest into vibrant communities for women travelers. Her entrepreneurial journey and empowering message earned recognition in this lifestyle storytelling category. Lifestyle Feature (Podcast) & Travel Reporting (Podcast) “Neville McConachie’s Tales of the Giant’s Causeway” This episode, also from Make Your Own Map, was recorded as part of my Jet Set TV travel special on Ireland—recently honored with a Telly Award. Neville’s storytelling brought the magic and mystery of Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway to life and earned recognition in two categories. TV/Streaming/Radio Feature Icon of the Seas – The World’s Largest Cruise Ship Featured on The Jet Set TV, this segment explored Royal Caribbean’s record-breaking ship. It’s a story of innovation, scale, and the joy of cruising—nominated in a category alongside some of the industry’s best travel broadcasters. Online Journalist of the Year I’m especially proud to once again be a finalist for Online Journalist of the Year, honoring the full spectrum of my digital reporting, interviews, and multimedia storytelling. This is my 3rd finalist nomination for Online Journalist of the Year! I’m incredibly grateful to The Jet Set TV team, my podcast guests, and the editors and collaborators who help bring these stories to life. Thank you for traveling this journey with me—can’t wait to see what’s next!

5x Finalist! Travel, TV & Tales That Made the Judges Take Note

A6. ONLINE JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR, Independent/Freelance

Lisa Niver, Freelance  Nico Lang, Queer News Daily Lyndsey Parker, Freelance John Regardie, Freelance Aitana Vargas, Freelance

B4. TRAVEL REPORTING

Lisa Niver, Make Your Own Map, “Neville McConachie’s Tales of the Giant’s Causeway” Angela Boisvert, Matt Bass, Tamara Gould, Nathan Masters, Kathy Kasaba, PBS SoCal, “Lost LA: Hiking Trailblazers” Ruksana Hussain, Fodor’s Travel, “How to Behave When Visiting Sites of Remembrance” Michele Stueven, LA Weekly, “ON THE HORIZON 100 Years of Filmmaking in Utah” Susan Valot, KCRW, “‘Just as special as Disneyland,’ backyard trains draw crowds”

https://youtu.be/MTL8SJY2fQk

Interview on Spotify

K4. LIFESTYLE FEATURE

Lisa Niver, Make Your Own Map, “How Alex Jimenez Transformed Her Passion into a Thriving Travel Community” Lisa Niver, Make Your Own Map, “Ireland: Neville’s Stories at Giant’s Causeway” Jonathan Bastian, Andrea Brody, KCRW, “The Serviceberry’: Robin Wall Kimmerer’s guide to the gift economy” Caroline Feraday, KCLU Radio, “A master whiskey distiller from Scotland is putting Oxnard on the map” Juuso Määttänen, Annenbergmedia, “Eli Everfly helps up-and-coming L.A. wrestlers get ahead”

How Alex Jimenez Transformed Her Passion into a Thriving Travel Community

https://youtu.be/MYfJ85W6058

Interview and Transcript on We Said Go Travel: https://www.wesaidgotravel.com/alex-jimenez/ Interview on YouTube : https://youtu.be/MYfJ85W6058 Interview on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0W9KbQczTmsWAHOeqmEgHq?si=6MLcVTqkQOaqSBTmCyJd4g

L21. TV/STREAMING/RADIO FEATURE

Lisa Niver, The Jet Set TV, “Lisa Niver Onboard Icon of the Seas” Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, “Hallmark Holiday Stars Won’t Be Ignored by Hollywood Anymore: ‘I Treat Each Production Like a Martin Scorsese Film’” Mesfin Fekadu, The Hollywood Reporter, “‘Abbott Elementary’ and The Glow Up of Janine Teagues” James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, “How ‘The Chosen’ Creator Turned the Bible Into Binge TV” J. Kim Murphy, Variety, “Welcome to ‘Ren Faire’: Lance Oppenheim’s HBO Docuseries Follows a Festival Trapped in a Real-Life Game of Thrones” The Jet Set TV: Lisa Niver takes us onboard the ICONIC Icon of the Seas

https://youtu.be/kN89NZeBv5o

Jet Set Correspondent Lisa Niver set sail on the World’s Largest Cruise ship to give us a look inside! Thank you The Jet Set TV, Nikki Noya & Bobby Laurie for allowing me to share about Royal Caribbean International’s brand new ship, ICON OF THE SEAS on your travel TV show. Thank you to the INCREDIBLE & ICONIC production team — Option A Group, Lisa Williams, Sam Harris, Jason Mangini and Patrick Gruss for this amazing segment. Thank you to TEAM Ketchum –Aaron Kokoruz Jessica Milton Spencer Bullard Amanda Gadaleta Alonso–for another amazing adventure, especially saving me a spot on Crown’s Edge 🙂

Lisa Niver won a 2025 Telly Award for her Travel TV special about Ireland which aired on The Jet Set TV!

https://youtu.be/h1rIvYuti6U

Lisa Niver has won many awards including a TELLY! From 2017 to 2025, in the Southern California Journalism Awards and National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards, she has won eleven times and been a finalist forty times for a variety of broadcast, print, podcast and digital categories.

• 2025 Winner: 1st place Lifestyle Feature for Make Your Own Map, “Ireland: Neville’s Stories at Giant’s Causeway”, 3rd place Online Journalist of the Year
• 2025 Winner: Silver Telly Award for Celtic Charm travel special!
• 2025 5x Finalist: Southern California Journalism Awards for Online Journalist of the Year, TV/Streaming/Radio Feature, Lifestyle Feature (Podcast) & Travel Reporting (Podcast)
• 2024 Winner: National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards Diversity in the Entertainment Industry
• 2024 4x Finalist: National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards finalist for Online Journalist of the Year, and for three of my podcast interviews with Beth Santos, Wanderful, Carolyn Ray, JourneyWoman, and Samantha Brown, Places to Love.
• 2024 2x Winner: Southern California Journalism Awards for podcast segments with Samantha Brown, Places to Love, and Tony Phelan, A Small Light
• 2024 6x Finalist: Southern California Journalism Awards for Online Journalist of the Year, Podcast Host and for my podcast interviews with Andrew McCarthy, Samantha Brown, Tony Phelan and Christie Tate
• 2023 Winner: National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards Diversity in Entertainment
• 2023 3x Finalist: National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards
• 2023 2x Finalist: Southern California Journalism Awards for Travel Reporting and Podcast Interview
• 2022 Finalist: Southern California Journalism Awards for BOOK CRITICISM
• 2021 Finalist: National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards for Commentary Diversity/Gender and Commentary Analysis/Trend — Film
• 2021 Winner: Southern California Journalism Awards for TECHNOLOGY REPORTING
• 2021 Finalist: Southern California Journalism Awards for BOOK CRITICISM
• 2020 Winner: National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards for Book Critic. See all of Lisa’s book reviews here.
• 2020 Finalist: National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards for Book Critic
• 2020 Winner: Southern California Journalism Awards for print magazine article: Hemispheres Magazine for United Airlines
• 2020 Five Time Finalist: Southern California Journalism awards

• 2019 Winner: NAEJ Award for KTLA TV segment
• 2019 Finalist: National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards in three categories
  • Category H2a. Soft News: Ms. Magazine: Polar Bears Can’t Vote So You Have To
  • Category F6a. Soft News Feature – Under 5 Minutes—Film/TV: KTLA TV Oscars Countdown to Gold with Lisa Niver
  • Category C1b. Business, Music/Tech/Art: My Wharton Magazine article: Four Female Founders Share Their Origin Stories
• 2019 Finalist: Southern California Journalism Awards for Broadcast Television Lifestyle Segment: Ogden Ski Getaway
• 2018 Finalist for three categories of Southern California Journalism Awards:
  • SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY REPORTING: Smithsonian 
  • TRAVEL REPORTING: Popsugar Fitness
  • PERSONALITY PROFILE: Saturday Evening Post
• 2017 2nd place winner for Southern California Journalism Award Print Column “A journey to freedom over three Passovers” and finalist for Travel Reporting.

More about Lisa Niver: https://lisaniver.com/awards/

Have you read my memoir, BRAVE-ish? My book has won 10 awards!

2025 International Impact Book Awards—Travel 2024 Gold Medal – Inspirational – North American Book Awards 2024 Gold Bookfest Award – Nonfiction Memoir Travel 2024 Gold Nonfiction Book Award – Nonfiction Authors Association 2024 Literary Titan Gold Book Award – Non-fiction 2024 Silver Bookfest Award – Nonfiction Self-Help Inspiration 2024 Readers’ Favorite Honorable Mention – Non-Fiction – Women’s Genre 2023 Hearten Book Awards First Place Winner – Inspiring & Uplifting Non-Fiction 2023 Zibby Awards Runner-up – Best Book for The Strong Woman2023 Goody Business Book Awards Winner – Memoir/Self-Help Featured in Conde Nast Traveler Women Who Travel Book Club: 10 New Books We Can’t Wait to Read this Fall As seen in Forbes Best New NonFiction