• Winner: The Man in Seat Sixty-One

This years travel website award goes to The Man in Seat Sixty-One (www.seat61.com), a deceptively understated site that has deservedly risen to become the online bible for rail travel.

Run by Mark Smith, a rail enthusiast and railway man by trade, the site began life as a personal hobby back in 2001. Now its a full-time job and has become an invaluable tool for the growing number of people wanting to travel by rail. As Mark says on his website: Travelling by train from London to Europe is really easy, but finding out about it (and how to book it) can be frustratingly difficult... I thought it was a gap that needed filling.'

What impressed the judges most was the volume and quality of information on the site. Mark's research is exhaustive and his personal expertise comes through. Everything you could need is there. It's the site to use to find out about rail travel. Increasingly, people are thinking about switching from flying to more ecological forms of transport and The Man in Seat Sixty-One is at the forefront of this green travel trend.

Judges: Andy Pietrasik, travel editor, theguardian.com; Georgia Brown, subeditor, theguardian.com; Sarah Bourn, production coordinator, theguardian.com