Grand Prize Winner to receive $10,000 cash prize: entries open on September 15
The World’s Unluckiest Traveler promotion is open for contest entries from September 15 to October 5. Residents of the U.S. and Canada1 can submit either a video or photo, along with the accompanying story describing their epic travel nightmare. Next, judges from Travel Guard will select eight (8) finalists, which will be announced on the contest website on October 26, 2026. Those final entries will then go up for a public vote until November 9, 2026. Finalists can share their submissions across social media to encourage votes.
Four (4) winners from the eight (8) selected finalists will be determined based on vote volume, with the grand prize of $10,000 going to the submission with the highest number of votes. The finalists that receive the second, third and fourth highest number of votes will also be awarded prizes. There’s even something in it for the voters, as a randomly selected voter will be chosen to receive a sweepstakes prize of a GoPro® action camera and kit2.
“Travel Guard knows that even the best-planned vacations can quickly unravel,” said Rhonda Sloan, CMO, North America at Zurich Cover-More. “We created the World’s Unluckiest Traveler contest to recognize those who have endured the worst in pursuit of their love of travel and to highlight the sort of misfortunes that show just how valuable a travel insurance plan can be.”