And the award goes to...

Were you a winner in 2011? I'm reminiscing on the evenings spent at industry awards last year. Oh what fun some of us had...

Funny things, award do's. The nervous anticipation of a nominee. The highly-visible anxiety of a nominee with a client in tow. The smug dead-certs. The “couldn’t care less, no, honestly, really” of the peeps sans nominations.

Much of the fun of awards is spotting the “characters”. I always seem to get stuck next to the “My wife doesn’t understand me”. I’m normally stalked by the “NFI”, seeking their after-party invite. I try to avoid the “I’ll drink my allocated half-bottle of wine as quickly as I possibly can, cause I didn’t get nominated”. Normally end up commiserating with them later.

I’m remembering some great nights out with my mates now.

The night where we won five on the trot. Our feigned embarrassment of having to go up to the stage yet again. Industry recognition of fantastic work, carried out by a strong team, with a happy client. Nice night.

Another happy night when we won Best Public Sector/Government Title. 3am found us at Bar Italia, doing the fandango. Fun night.

The lock-in at a Sarf London pub. Desperate for “one more for the road”, I took up the landlord’s challenge. If I could tell a joke which he’d laugh at, I could pull my own pints for as long as I liked. Bosh!

And my awardmances. High and low points. Was seated next to a nice chap one year, who’d just won an award for his marketing work on a customer magazine. He shall remain nameless. Seemed a nice guy. He had a certain je-ne-sais-quoi. I liked the way he extended his brand. Conversation flowed (as did the drink) and we arranged to meet up the following week. The evening went well, he paid for the meal and I was a happy bunny.

Wasn’t so happy when I bumped into a mutual friend the following week. Asking after said “new friend”, found out that all was well in his world as his wife had just given birth to their first child. Wife. Child. Epic fail. Phoned him to tell him exactly where he could stick his trophy.

Higher success rating when a burgeoning office romance was unveiled at an awards do. Poor man had no choice but to marry me after that.

And the highlight moment of the 2011's awards? Being invited to two very different kind of clubs for the after-party. Both designed for men, if you catch my drift. I politely declined and headed home at a very respectable hour. A first, being home before 3am. I should give myself an award...