Bowling Green, Ky. - The Southern Kentucky Book Fest has won a second place award for its Marketing Campaign in the 2005 Traverse Awards for Excellence in Tourism Marketing competition.

The award was announced at an Oct. 25 gala during the Kentucky Tourism Industry Annual Conference in Lexington.

The Kentucky Tourism Council presents the Traverse Awards each year to honor the best work in advertising and marketing among Kentucky tourism businesses and organizations. This year, a panel of out-of state experts in tourism marketing judged a record 181 entries.

The Southern Kentucky Book Fest is a partnership of WKU Libraries, Bowling Green Public Library and Barnes & Noble Booksellers of Bowling Green. Jayne Pelaski, outreach coordinator for WKU Libraries, is the chair of the Book Fest’s management committee.

"I’m thrilled we were, once again, recognized by the Kentucky Tourism Council,” Pelaski said. She said this is the fourth consecutive year the Book Fest has been honored by the KTC.

The Traverse Awards are open to Kentucky Tourism Council and Kentucky Hotel & Lodging Association members offering a tourism product or service in Kentucky. All entries must have been published or distributed within the past year. Each entry is judged upon its ability to capture attention and how well it relates to its audience.

The Kentucky Tourism Council is a Frankfort-based state association that represents every segment of Kentucky’s tourism industry. The 550-member organization offers continuing education programs, works in the area of governmental relations and provides legislative advocacy for Kentucky’s travel industry.

Information on the 2006 Southern Kentucky Book Fest is available at www.sokybookfest.org.

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For more information, contact Jayne Pelaski at (270) 745-5016 or Marcheta Sparrow at (502) 223-8687.