2016

Freelance Journalist, Editor, Photographer and Author,  Bloomberg News, CNN, The Christian Science Monitor

Examining tourism and cultural rebuilding in post-war and conflict zones  Judge

Michael Luongo is a New York-based freelance journalist, editor and photographer, specializing in travel and LGBT issues. He has visited over 85 countries and all seven continents, his journalism concentrating on Latin America and the Middle East. Luongo was the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) 2013 Journalist of the Year and the North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) Grand Prize in Travel Journalism Award Recipient in 2010 and 2014, for writing on tourism re-development in Iraq and other conflict zones. He is author or editor of 15 books, including “Routledge’s Gay Travels in the Muslim World” and “Frommer’s Buenos Aires.” The New Jersey native has a B.A. in Communications and a master’s in urban planning, both from Rutgers University.