The Travel Intern: Season 4 — The Panoramic Soul

The Travel Intern Season IV: The Philippines, East Asia, and Oceania

The Travel Intern Season IV:

The Philippines, East Asia, and Oceania

Encompassing three amazing seasons has been a crazy yet fruitful adventure while looking for potential interns to embark on a life-changing journey to receive travel assignments and capture the magic and story from the places they will visit. Now, on our fourth season, we will go places with a wonderful mix of the familiar and mysterious, and we want you to be our fourth Travel Intern for The Panoramic Soul.

The Pearl of the Orient, the Snow, and the Sea

It has been recommended by our Social Media Manager that it would be a breath of fresh air to return to our roots – The Philippines. In Season I, we have placed Batanes under the spotlight, with Fratri Edson Silva ultimately taking the top plum. With a little bit of tweaking in the mechanics and selection of winners, we came up with a great mix of local and international assignments.

We have selected the perfect balance between the familiar and the unfamiliar. We have selected Japan and South Korea as two of the most loved destinations every traveler wants to visit at least once. On the other hand, the mystery and enchantment of neighboring countries Palau and Papua New Guinea need well-deserved attention, with stories waiting
to be revealed and shared with others.

As we move forward, we explore more countries and destinations where stories deserve to be captured and narrated only by the most inspired and most authentic. This season might include the most number of countries as part of the prize – if you are worthy.

Allow us to cordially invite you to submit your application to us for our fourth season.

Act I: The Call for Submissions

Submission Period: January 5 – February 29 2020
Announcement of Quarter finalists: March 14, 2020

Just like any internship program, you are required to submit a letter of intent to our official e-mail (dear@thepanoramicsoul.com) and as a direct message to our Facebook Page. Your letter of intent must be submitted as the body of the e-mail, not as an attachment. Tell us your travel goals, your previous experiences, and things you love doing. If this is your first time applying to our program, or you have jitters that you have no traveling experience at all, you should not worry because it is our goal to pave the way and share the gift of travel to the most deserving applicant. A clear, high-definition photo of yourself would also be nice and should be attached to the e-mail you will send to us.

Things to Do:

- E-mail your Letter of Intent (as part of the e-body mail and not as an attachment .doc or .pdf file).

- Send the same to the TPS Facebook Page inbox.

Share The Panoramic Soul Facebook page and set to public with the hashtags #thepanoramicsoul #thetravelinternseasoniv with your personal caption.

Criteria for Judging
95% Letter of Intent
5% Compliance
In the Travel Intern Series by The Panoramic Soul, we are not giving away one-time prizes – we are giving away a series of experiences and life lessons that you’ll pick up from every adventure assigned to you. Your adventure does not end after your reign, and if you continue to deliver stellar stories, you will be assigned to other, even greater destinations.

Act II: A Test of Photography

Submission Period: March 15 – March 30, 2020
Public Voting: April 1 – 30, 2020
Announcement of Semifinalists: May 5, 2020

Criteria for Judging
60% Photographic Quality
30% Caption
5% Compliance
5% Public Voting

Part of the process is to determine how well you can convey a story through the lens. You don’t have to be the best photographer in the world to conquer this challenge, but you should at least know how to take a good photo. Each year, we follow a particular set of challenge themes, and the theme for this season’s Test of Photography is:

“Somewhere different.”

The photo entry (and we really want to highlight that the photo you will submit to us is yours) and the strict 100-word caption must be submitted to The Panoramic Soul FB page not later than 11:00 p.m. of March 30, 2020 (GMT+8:00). You are also required to submit the RAW file of the photo to the TPS official e-mail with an accompanying statement that you allow The Panoramic Soul to use your photo as part of the contest requirements.

All entries submitted after the deadline will be considered as disqualified.

The Public Voting will run for the entire month of April. As you might have noticed, Public Voting comprises 5% of the overall total score, and if you’ve been following our intern series, 5% is a huge deal when it comes to finalization of scores. That being said, you should still try to nail the main criteria, which are the Photographic Quality and Caption.

Act III: The 24-Hour Editor-in-Chief Challenge

EIC Challenge Submission Period: May 7, 2020

The 24-hour EIC challenge is a pair of tasks that the semifinalists must complete within twenty-four hours. The challenge will be sent directly to the semifinalists, and the EIC challenge results will be posted on The Panoramic Soul Facebook page.

Act IV: Final Interview

Final Interview: TBA
Public Voting: TBA
Announcement of Final 3: June 1, 2020

Criteria:

50% EIC Challenge
45% Final Interview
5% Public Voting

This is the toughest part of the series because regardless of how many semifinalists there may be, only three will proceed and take the final challenge.

Act V: The Final Challenge

Criteria for Judging

95% Final Deliberation
5% Final Public Voting

The entire competition extends to the fifth and final act, which requires the last three applicants to travel to a particular destination for the final challenge. We want to see you in person, and we want you to do a very special challenge as well. With a tentative schedule, this challenge will fall on a weekend so keep your 2nd and 3rd weekends of May available because we don’t want you to be the one who loses at the last second.

Act VI: Announcement of the Travel Intern Season IV Winner

Announcement: June 15, 2020
Both 3rd and 2nd place applicants will receive one (1) roundtrip ticket to a local destination based on the agreed travel assignment, and one (1) Luzon-based tour provided by one of our affiliate tour operators—all these, together with the huge potential to be assigned to other local (or potentially even international) destinations.

The Travel Intern Season IV is our biggest yet, and we keep on finding broader horizons through the eyes of our interns even from the first season. The winner of this season will take home the following prizes:

Phase I:

- Solo Backpacker tours worth up to Php 50,000.00
  - You will be provided with tour options every six to eight weeks where you can join as a backpacker. Whether this is a peaceful stroll in Maniwaya Island or a challenging trek to Mt. Pulag, the choice is ultimately yours. As an intern, you are required to capture a story (or multiple stories) and write about it, which will then be reviewed by The Panoramic Soul staff before publication.

- Two (2) Roundtrip Tickets to any local destination serviced by AirAsia.

- One (1) Samsonite Backpack

Now, if you have successfully completed the first phase of the prize with top marks from the TPS staff, then prepare for the second phase of your adventure, which includes (if not all) of the following:

Phase II:

- One (1) Roundtrip Ticket to Tokyo OR Osaka, Japan on the following route options:
  - - Manila – Tokyo – Manila
  - - Clark – Tokyo – Manila
  - - Cebu – Tokyo – Manila

- One (1) Roundtrip Ticket to Jeju Island OR Seoul, South Korea on the following route options:
  - - Osaka – Seoul – Osaka
  - - Tokyo – Seoul – Tokyo
  - - Osaka – Jeju – Osaka
  - - Tokyo – Jeju – Tokyo

- One (1) Roundtrip Ticket to Koror, Palau:
  - - Manila-Koror-Manila

- One (1) Roundtrip Ticket to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea:
  - - Manila-Port Moresby-Manila

It will take a great deal of passion, dedication, and authenticity to be able to reach the second phase of your adventure. We want this journey to be mutually beneficial, with our interns sharing their top-quality stories to The Panoramic Soul website.

Remember that this is only the beginning of your journey with us. If you can cultivate this starting point, then expect more adventures in both local and the international scene from us.

The Fine Print

Bear in mind that you are winning an internship program and not just your usual vacation. Each season, the winner must deliver what is expected of him/her, and that is primarily the delivery of high-quality stories that will be captured during each travel assignment.

- Visa applications and requirements must be taken care of by the winner. The Panoramic Soul can provide endorsement letters to support the application, but the entire process is solely the responsibility of the intern.

- There is no salary or any other form of compensation unless otherwise indicated.

- Travel assignments are categorized as solo assignments. Hence, tagging along of a family member or a friend is highly discouraged. There might be cases, however, in which a TPS staff member will join the intern in some of his or her assignments.

- The intern should be able to submit well-written travel articles that comply with the standards of The Panoramic Soul. Articles may be returned to the intern for further polishing and improvement in style as deemed necessary.

- The Panoramic Soul has the right to revoke any portion of the prize package without further notice, especially when the intern fails to comply with the agreed duties and responsibilities. We value our brand, virtues, and passion, and we will not settle for anything less than that.

Good luck!

#thepanoramicsoul #thetravelinternseasoniv