There are several reasons for us running the UnAwards 15. Celebrating the work and efforts of colleagues across comms, PR, marketing and digital is right up there amongst them, of course.
But for me it runs a little deeper than that.
We run the UnAwards to support and – in our own way - fly a flag for folks across the UK and beyond who are working in difficult circumstances and still delivering day after day. To sing for the unsung, to recognise the unrecognised.
I hear – and I hear it way too often, I’m afraid – of some less than great behaviours by some organisations and the way they are treating staff. To a degree this is to be expected with the enormous and ongoing cuts to the public sector – with 350k people leaving local government alone in the past five years there is unprecedented change taking place.
But this doesn’t excuse shoddy behaviour.
Lack of recognition has been a theme in much of the staff survey feedback I have seen over the years too. Sometimes your achievements will be appreciated by others, sometimes they’ll not be. That’s a fact of comms life, as it is in life.
And for me, part of the UnAwards is flying back into face of this and celebrating what you do and do well. We’ve been at, and are, at your coalface so we know.
So the real reason why you should enter the UnAwards is to celebrate you.
The UnAwards are about sticking your hands up in the air, proudly, and saying “you know what – I did some bloody good things this year. And I damn well should celebrate them.”
If you’re feeling a bit unloved, the community will show you some love. We all need some, right?
And whether you are ultimately shortlisted or not in the UnAwards s not necessarily the most important thing either - taking some time out to reflect back on all you have done this year is. This can only be a good thing for you personally, for your teams, and for your organisations.
Of course, if you have done something amazing you should absolutely crow about it, get it on your LinkedIn profile and write a post about it on comms2point0.co.uk. You never know, it may just get you spotted and open a door somewhere for you.
Convinced?
Then get cracking. You have until the end of Wednesday 28 October to enter.
Grab an hour with a cup of coffee, sit somewhere quiet and do yourself proud.
You’ll be glad you did.
p.s. Don’t forget to nominate someone brilliant in our two public categories: Lifetime achievement and best comms/digital team.
Darren Caveney is co-creator of comms2point0 and the UnAwards
