As of Saturday, I can now call myself an “award-winning” freelance writer. You read it correctly. Someone actually gave me an award - and not just one, but three. They came from a legitimate journalism organization too.

The folks here at TravelBlur.com (that’s really just me) brought home two first place and one second place writing awards from the Oklahoma Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Seriously, we won.

My lovely wife and I took home a first place award in the Leisure Writing category for Newspaper Division B (circulation 7,000 to 25,000) for a collaborative effort headlined The Splendor and Rich Heritage of Copenhagen  which appeared in Edmond Life and Leisure.

In the Newspaper Division C (circulation less than 7,000) Leisure Writing category, this writer captured first place with a story titled Giant Buddha Rules Kamakura  and second for a Halloween piece called Prague’s Creepy Gothic Church of All Saints. Both stories published in The Journal Record.

While honors and awards are a welcome validation, the true joy of writing comes not from the accolades, but from a quality turn of phrase. I like writing, I like crafting a narrative and, honestly, I like winning awards too.

Of Scandinavia’s capital cities, I think Copenhagen is by far the hippest, especially if you schedule your travel trip during the city’s wonderful jazz festival. Here are my Copenhagen highlights and low lights.

Don’t Miss: The Nyhavn Canal

The city’s coolest hangout, the Nyhavn Canal is Copenhagen at its most picturesque. Traditional wooden boats add authenticity to the old sailors’ quarter, and the brightly painted buildings now house trendy restaurants and clubs instead of bars and brothels.

Dismiss: The Little Mermaid

Okay, I know Hans Christian Andersen and Disney made her famous, but she’s just a tiny statue sitting on a rock. 

Don’t Miss: Museum of Danish Resistance

Telling the story of the underground fight against Nazi occupation, this small museum weaves an interesting tale of espionage and sabotage.

Dismiss: Christiania

Copenhagen’s counter-culture hippie haven, Christiania was founded in the early 1970s as an alternative to formal Danish society. The main drag is called Pusher Street. As I wrote in an article published in Edmond Life and Leisure, “While a peace-and-love, flower-power child of the 1960s might see this hippie haven as a trip (pun intended) down memory lane, Christiania was not my bag, baby.”

Don’t Miss: Our Savior’s Church spire

It’s not its height that makes Our Savior’s spire so cool, it’s the way you get to the top. What starts out like any other church tower climb gets much more interesting as the last 150 stairs twist around the outside of the 350-year-old oak spire.