Thursday 26 March 2009

And the winner is..............................

Presenter Lauren Laverne announcing the winners


Oh my word, never before has any sentence sent me into a swirl of surrealism, where a noisy room filled with champagne-fuelled excitable chatter and award ceremony music suddenly becomes internally silent, allowing the mind to shut out everything apart from the voice of the presenter.

There was a loud buzz of excitement in the air.

But to the nominees waiting in anticipation, the only thing to do was to ignore the noise and hold onto every syllable that came over the microphone.

The time had come

"And the winner in the Independent Media category is...."

There was a pause, anticipation and build-up.

And then the answer...with bated breath.

"..........Demotix!"

Huge applause went in the direction of the worthy winners.

Hugs and heartfelt kisses came in the direction of me.

Good friends commiserating but also celebrating that The Rubbish Diet had made it that far.

As the Demotix guys were busy receiving the coveted MediaGuardian Innovation award from presenter Lauren Laverne on stage, my feelings were playing a game of dodgems with Disappointment, Relief, Excitement and Pride all bumping against each other to see which one would come out on top.

And I'm so glad to say that relief quickly bumped the feeling of disappointment out of the picture and excitement soon kicked back in. With the stress of the awards out of the way, we could at last get on with the party and feel proud that The Rubbish Diet was a finalist at The MEGAs.

Wahey....so the champagne flowed and the laughter continued as we partied on, enjoying the venue which was the amazing Sketch restaurant in Central London.

Amongst all the fun I managed to snap the winners in my category and here are the chaps behind the fantastic site Demotix. It's a citizen journalism website that also acts as a photo agency, which markets photos and content from journalists and amateurs to the mainstream media. You can see how they won. Their project is a worthy winner and guess what...I'm even planning to join the site myself. Congratulations guys you deserve it.




I also caught up with the other "runners-up" Artisan Food, a fabulous website highlighting the best of Cumbrian food. It's got some brilliant reviews, beautiful photography as well as wonderful multimedia content. So congratulations too to Cecilia and Martin for getting this far. It was really great to meet you and next time I travel up to the Lake District I will be looking to your site for advice on where to shop and eat.




So after the couple of introductions we simply continued to enjoy the rest of the awards party. Here are a few more photos to set the scene.


Here's me with my gaggle of rubbish friends...Tracey, Ruby and Dorothy. Thanks ladies...you made the awards party truly special. The support you've given me is really amazing.





Next is the man of the moment, who I must really thank for putting up with my blogging.
He's the bloke behind the blog...the one who you have come to know as "Mr A". Hooray for my one and only.





Next is the most funky bathroom ever.




And here's that right rubbish lass - Tracey Smith - posing in probably the most funky bathroom ever.


Later Tracey and I just couldn't resist chatting up the official photographer.



Or indeed the manager of Sketch.

And yes...he did confirm that they recycle all their plastic and glass bottles......PHEW




Here's the DJ laughing at my request for anything by Take That, Madonna or Dexys Midnight Runners. Good job that chap knew I was joking. Just imagine if he had interrupted the cool ambient tunes he was playing with a blast of Come on Eileen.




Here's Tracey with Ruby - examining the rubber crockery.
Yes is was really bendy and the saucer really did have a hole in it.




And finally...Guess what Tracey showed me at the end of the night on the way out?



It was a sculpture made from rubbish full of broken toys and dolls.

"That's a Robert Bradford" she said, referring to the artist that she interviewed not so long ago for her blog.

And what a fitting end to a wonderful night out.

So huge thanks to the judges at MediaGuardian and the organisers at Seventeen Events for a fabulous night. Thanks too for all your messages of support which came flooding in through the blog, SMS, email and Twitter. I really appreciated it.

The Rubbish Diet at the MEGAs eh.

Now that's one evening I won't forget in a hurry or indeed what has been a real whirl of a year.

So please stay tuned...as there will be other highlights from the last 15 months appearing on here over the next few days. In the meantime, I'll be busy attempting to respond to all of your wonderful messages...

....between sorting out the kids, the laundry and the recycling.

Yay....there's nothing quite like coming back down to earth with a bump.

But I love it!

Did I mention I'm on Three Counties Radio again later - 1.30pm, talking about food waste.

LOL...Down to earth...eh?

Eh oh...such is life in the recycling bin.

_________________________________________________________

13 comments:

lunarossa said...

CONGRATULATIONS, Karen for being a finalist!!! Well deserved. For me YOU are the winner and I thank for all what you taught me up to now. Just hope I can learn more and more from you and your wonderful site. All the best Ciao. Antonella
PS: Mr A is quite dashing!!!!

dandaworld said...

Ho no! I forgot to say 'good luck' to you... and you needed it! YOU had to win! I'm disappointed in place of you!!! LOL

Good you found the way to anjoy it anymore!
And pictures are beautiful! You, girls, were beautiful!
I would have much liked to be there with you!
And finally Mr A face's here on the blog: you are a wonderful couple! :)

So I want to give my congratulation to you the same! You winned in my heart as in the heart of everyone who knows you! Enjoy the glory to be a winner in the real world, yes, down to earth! ;D

Anonymous said...

Hi Mrs A,

I am so glad you enjoyed the event, with friends. The result was a negative but the winner deserved the prize. Linking up with them could be a good move. I can see you being a regular contributor.

Strawberry Jam Anne said...

Well I felt proud for you to have been nominated in the first place Mrs A, and well done for that. Bad luck on not being the outright winner but looks as though you had a fabulous day - definitely one to remember. A x

Margaret's Ramblings said...

You did so well to get to the big night. I would say all there were winners. You certainly seemed to have enjoyed your big night.

Margaret

Anonymous said...

Well done, Mrs A - the photos are wonderful; it looks like a cracking night.

I'm so proud of you for being runner up for such an amazing award at an amazing event. You must be buzzing!

Don't let those pants bring you back down to earth too soon; it's ok to fly for a while ;)

Much love and respect
Mrs G x

Jo Beaufoix said...

Wow, what a night. Looks like you all had a wonderful time. I'm not going to say commiserations or anything because blimey Mrs AA, you were in the MEGAs!! What an amazing achievement lovely. Big hugs and yay for photos in toilets, hee hee. :D

See you soon. x

Layla said...

WOW, what a night indeed!! Looks like you had a fabulous time!!

Winning would of course be great, and REALLY DESERVED!! /Have you asked the Demotix guys if they went zero waste yet? :D/

Would be nice to see you at their site, or elsewhere in Universe!! :)
/Maybe with a column in The Times or such?!/

Anyway, you are a WINNER in our eyes!! /Who's ever heard of them anyway? ;)/

Oh, and Come On Eileen is definitely better than any, uhm, ambiental!!! :)

Kisses,
Layla

Rev. Peter Doodes said...

You, with a home made blog, reached the finals and were up against a pair of pro's with a full time financed site.

Not bad huh?

Now where is my copy of "Come on Eileen"?

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi folks - thanks for your wonderful comments. Sorry for being slow to reply but Mr A has come down with the kind of flu a man gets and I've been feeling a bit wibbly wobbly too and I promise it's not from late nights or champagne.

Hee hee Antonella - I told Mr A what you said and he appropriately blushed :-D

Danda thank you - and don't worry, Demotix were fine winners and it was the most wonderful night out ever :-D

Hi John - no worries, I am just delighted to have got that far in the first place and have now got a wonderful digital badge to show off on the blog. I can't wait to get some time to add a few things to the Demotix site :-D

Hi Anne - it was truly a fabulous night and thank you so much for the well wishes. Perhaps I should plan what I'll do next year :-D

Hi Margaret - That's just what Lauren Laverne said hee hee. No wonder there was so much champagne flowing that night :-D

Thank you Mrs G - can you believe it. Am still pinching myself. And as for the pants...too right...I've been keeping my distance. Am not in a hurry to go there quite yet :-D

LOL Jo - Perhaps I should submit the photos to a toilet blog...wonder if there is one....Surely there must be (now how many of you will be doing a google search to find out LOL). :-D

Hi Layla - cheeky, LOL :-D I think the Demotix guys were too busy enjoying the night and who can blame them. Hee hee. Glad you remember Come on Eileen too...was worried about showing my age there :-D

LOL Peter - uh...oh yeah. That's so right. I keep forgetting. Oh just imagine what could happen if I had some sponsors. Now that could be exciting. Have you found your copy of Come on Eileen yet....the fast dancing at the end always got me :-D

Baba said...

Amazing!! A well deserved night of fun and praise for you and Mr A!!! Well done you as ever!! Much Love XX

Karin said...

P.S. Just seen your twitter - hope you aren't too ill and you get well soon.

Almost Mrs Average said...

Yay Baba - thanks for the message - promise to catch up very soon :-D xxx

Hi Karin - thank you so much. Am beginning to feel a lot better. At least I'm back on the blog for a mo :-D

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