And the loser is...

Last night was the IPC Editorial Awards, and it’s tempting to let this pass without comment. Mainly because our magazine didn’t win anything and I wasn’t even nominated in my chosen category. But that would just be sour grapes.

Let me explain a bit more about the evening. It’s held every year at the Grosvenor House Hotel, a huge venue for the couple of thousand people who attend. Most people dress up in posh frocks or suits (I was wearing the latter, my frock still being at the dry cleaners) and we get a champagne reception, three course meal, congratulatory pats on the back for a job well done and then more free booze and dancing till about 2am. Prizes aren’t small, with individual winners getting £500 each, and £750 going to awards won by the magazine as a whole. All this doesn’t cost those attending a penny, although it obviously stings the company bank balance. But as perks go it’s up there with the best.

It seems a little churlish, then, to get downhearted over not actually winning an award. Every year I enter the ‘Technical/Practical Editor of the Year’ category. Since my job title is Technical Editor this is a bit of a no-brainer. IPC doesn’t have many computer magazines on its books – just What Digital Camera and Better Digital Photography to my knowledge – so you’d think it would be a walkover. A bit like Smithers winning ‘Employee of the Month’ in The Simpsons. But there are plenty of magazines that have a practical section, everything from fashion magazines’ make-up pages, car and bike technical details, photography tutorials, right up to the knitting section in Woman’s Weekly.

I think the thing that annoyed me most is that I put a lot more effort into my application this year than in previous attempts. The fact it was a repeat winner – a guy from one of our boating magazines who won it two years ago – didn’t help. I’m just glad there was no camera in your face like they have at the Oscars. Surely an actor’s best ever performance is when that golden envelope is opened, and they find it doesn’t contain the name that’s going to let them say their well-prepared speech. That happy-for-the-winner grin must have been practised as much as the thank yous for family and friends.

So I’m disappointed I didn’t get a nomination this year, but is it so bad to feel that? If I didn’t feel a bit let down then I might as well not have entered, as I obviously didn’t want it enough. To be fair, in 2002 and 2003 I was nominated for the award, which means I made a shortlist of four or five contenders. That has to count for something or I wouldn’t have added the information to my CV. Our Reviews Editor has put in for the same award all three years and never gotten a nod once. “Just one nomination!” was his response last night, before we moved on to the more pressing business of finding another pint. Maybe it’s time to just eat those sour grapes and spit out the pips. After all, there’s always next year.