I received this notification recently, and was rather surprised.
The Society of American Travel Writers Foundation (SATW) announced the winners of the 2017 Lowell Thomas Journalism Competition and A GEEK IN CHINA was awarded GOLD in the Guidebook category! The awards are named for Lowell Thomas, acclaimed broadcast journalist, prolific author and world explorer during five decades in journalism.
The Lowell Thomas awards, recognized as the most prestigious in travel journalism, were announced in Portland, Oregon, at the annual conference of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), the premier professional organization of travel journalists and communicators.
Twenty-five faculty members from the University of Missouri School of Journalism did the judging. The competition, for work from spring 2016 to spring 2017, drew 1,190 entries. This year, the SATW Foundation is giving 89 awards in 24 categories and nearly $20,000 in prize money to journalists in recognition of outstanding travel journalism.
Here’s what the judges said about A Geek in China:
“A very different kind of guidebook, ‘A Geek in China’ delivers on the ambitious goal of actually helping would-be travelers understand this unique and complex culture. It achieves that goal through the engaging and authoritative voice of its author and in its bright, bite-sized design. The effect is both nuanced and delightful, as if one were just given a cultural crash course by a guide who is equal parts enthusiast and expert.”
Here is a link to the full list of winners.
http://www.satwf.com/2017-satw-foundation-lowell-thomas-travel-journali/2016-17-list-of-winners
Into the Middle Kingdom 
This article introduces this book called A Geek in China which include a lot of useful information for the first China traveler. It mentions that even though the person who is not familiar with the China, the book will guide you in knowing more about the China.
The book a geek in china is a really great guide to chinese humanity. It’s a different type of book that does a deep dive towards the chinese culture. The book itself has won the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation gold. It’s a great book and I’m glad it won.
I have never heard of ‘A Geek in China’ but I really enjoyed reading this review on it. I think guidebooks about China and Chinese culture can be difficult to understand or doesn’t capture the reader’s attention. Based off this review, however, it’s clear the writer has prolific experience in journalism and world exploring and clearly made an effective book.
I’ve recently started reading this book and I’m glad to hear it won an award. It is a very good book, so much so that I didn’t even think it was a travel book, I thought it was written to explain Chinese culture to Chinese language and culture learners. It does a really good job of going deep into the culture and explaining it. I would definitely recommend it for anyone wanting to learn about Chinese culture.