Travel South Dakota was recently awarded two prestigious awards from Travel Weekly’s 2024 Magellan Awards.   Travel South Dakota’s “Story of a State” Super Bowl TV spot and campaign won a Gold Award in the TV Commercial category for Destination Marketing. The department also received a Silver Award for its inaugural “So Much South Dakota, So Little Time” winter campaign in the Campaign Advertising/Marketing for Destinations category.   “Story of a State” was a rewriting of Nine Days’ 2000 hit “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)” created to show that South Dakota is no one-hit wonder. The regional campaign garnered more than 28 million impressions and drove a massive amount of new direct traffic to TravelSouthDakota.com. Website visits were up 192% during the campaign.   The projects were done in partnership with Travel South Dakota’s agencies of record, led by Karsh Hagan’s creative, and including work by Miles Partnerships, Lawrence & Schiller, Lou Hammond Group and Love Communications.   Magellan Award winners represent the best in the travel industry. According to Travel Weekly, there were a record number of submissions from across the U.S. and the world. Winning a Magellan Award is a tremendous achievement and represents a high standard of excellence within the travel industry.   “This is incredible news,” said South Dakota Department of Tourism Secretary James Hagen. “Winning these awards is thrilling and rewarding, especially considering the competition and rigor of the Magellan Awards. Having Travel South Dakota’s work recognized as some of the best in the travel industry is a testament to the hard work of our collective teams.”   The Magellan Awards honor outstanding design, marketing, and services in a broad range of industry segments including Hospitality, Travel Destinations, Cruise Lines, Online Travel Services, Airlines and Airports, Travel Agents and Agencies, Tour Operators, and Ground Transportation.   The 2024 Magellan Awards received hundreds of entries from top travel organizations and professionals worldwide. The quality of the work was outstanding. The Magellan Awards are judged and overseen by a one-of-a-kind panel of top travel professionals representing the best names and most accomplished leaders from the industry. In determining winners, entries do not compete with one another. Instead, they are judged against Travel Weekly’s established standards of excellence.   For more inspiration and travel planning resources, visit TravelSouthDakota.com.