As is tradition at the annual Talk About Local unconference the unAwards are presented at the end of the day. The roof terrace at MIMA in the sun with some banging 90’s house music drifting across from the park on the breeze made the ideal location for the fifth annual unAwards.
This year in acknowledgement of the current economic climate and the fact that the prizes were procured at great expense in London instead of Latiffs of Birmingham, (‘Where Choice Meets Price’), the unAwards ceremony was alcohol free and we also had to cancel the video. So all you are going to get for the #TAL13 austerity unAwards blog post is a few pictures and a list of (un)grateful recipients.
First up was a very special unAward.
The Lifetime achievement Award went to Getgood, (she may be a Savage now after her marriage to Carl, but she will always be Getgood to us at Talk About Local).
Getgood was proud to receive a ‘lovely’ ceramic Diamond Jubilee thing.
Sadly, Getgood took the opportunity to announce her departure from Talk About Local to pastures new in Cardiff. She will be sadly missed and everyone at Talk About Local wishes her well.
The 15 years of longevity unAward went to James Hatts who was presented with a biro to mark 15 years of the London-se1 blog. We think he was happy with his prize but most of the crowd were singing along to The Shamen – Ebeneezer Goode at this point so we’re not sure.
The Tireless Innovation unAward went to Sean Brady from the incomparable Formby First who was presented with a Keep Calm fridge magnet in recognition of, well, his Tireless Innovation.
The all new for #TAL13 Flying The Flag for the UK unAward went to Simon Pipe from St Helena Online, Simon was presented with a Union Jack beanie hat that he can wear next time he is invited to high tea with His Excellency the Governor Mark Capes.
The Drowning out the London noise unAward went to I love Stockton.me, a fantastic site that promotes Stockton and surrounding areas. Because the site is so good at drowning out the London noise (and it gets cold in ‘the north’ according to Will), some ear muffs were presented to Adam who was drowned out by some obscure 90’s trance house mash-up that nobody could name, which suited Adam because he is no good a public speaking anyway.
The (hastily made up) Biggest Fan Base unAward (because we found a fan in the bag) went to Emma for her twitter following of almost 22,000. We’re sure that Emma is delighted with her fan and will treasure it always.
The Contractual Obligation Sponsors unAward went to Dave Harte who was the grateful recipient of a bag of candy floss which looked suspiciously like the fluff off Will’s Shirt. The candy floss we are reliably informed was shared by Dave with the rest of the midlands cabal on the train home.
Dave also won the prize for guessing the location of #TAL13, unfortunately the transporter bridge (known locally as the ‘tranny’) is currently closed for renovation so no ride on the tranny for Dave.
The Putting A Spring Into The Step unAward went to Love Middlesbrough for tweeting. A ball of rubber bands was presented to Yaffa (see what we did there, rubber – bounce – spring?)
And as quickly as it started, the unAwards finished to the sound of Guru Josh – Infinity and we all went to the pub where Carl was so made up with the prize his new wife had received he felt the need to deface it with BBQ sauce.
Just because you didn’t win an UnAward doesn’t make you any more of a loser than the winners, there is always next year and you’re all winners to us!
Mike Rawlins
Away from Talk About Local I take photos, fly my quadcopter and walk my two Beagles.
If I'm not doing any of the above then you'll find me volunteering at my local RNLI station as a press officer.
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Thank you so much for my beautiful unaward, which has taken pride of place…somewhere…in the house…unsure where… Although newly married I have retained the Getgood name as I liked it too much to lose it! Very sorry to be leaving the TAL team, I’ll miss you all and the work we did immensely. It was very lovely to catch up with you and so many hyperlocal heroes at #TAL13. I’m already looking forward to #TAL14. Nicky