The Destination Wedding & Honeymoon Specialists Association has introduced an annual awards in honor of a longtime member, the late Will Medina.
Will Medina
Medina, founder of the Destination Wedding Expert agency and creator of the Destination Wedding University training for advisors, died unexpectedly last year.
The Will Medina Spirit Awards will be given in early 2025. There are three categories: the Community Over Competition Award, the Charity/Philanthropy Award and the Pioneer Award. They are designed to recognize Medina's giving-back spirit.
The Community Over Competition Award will be given to an advisor who encourages and mentors other advisors to help grow their businesses.
The Charity/Philanthropy Award will be given to an advisor who is involved in nonprofit activities.
The Pioneer Award will be given to an advisor with the most unique romance travel niche or model.
The award recipients will be chosen by a committee chaired by Suzanne Haire, owner of TravelAgentSuz. Haire will be joined on the committee by Mario Lopez, Medina's husband and president of Destination Weddings Expert and Destination Wedding University; TravelPulse executive editor Eric Bowman; Travel with Sparkle owner Nadia "Sparkle" Henry, who is a Travel Weekly columnist; and former Travel Market Report editor in chief Cheryl Rosen.
"Will emphasized community over competition in everything he did in his business and in his work with thousands of travel professionals over the years," Haire said. "We want to honor his spirit for many years to come by recognizing other advisors who're giving back too and following his example. Many people leave little to no legacy -- Will instilled personal change in our industry and we were lucky to have him as a friend and as a colleague."
Nominations for the 2025 awards will be accepted online until Friday, Nov. 29.