THE QIA STAR AWARDS 2006 – how your Editor, Sue Allard nearly became a STAR!!

Well, it all started at the end of July!

I got an email from Rob asking me to phone a certain number.  So I did! A very nice lady at the other end of the phone said, ‘As you know, you have been short listed for the QIA Star awards and we would like to give you some more information about the events we will be holding’.

Well, uh, no, I didn’t know I had been short listed.  I didn’t even know I had been nominated!!  Seems that Rob had put my name forward without telling me!  I’m still deciding whether to speak to him!!

There were nearly two thousand people nominated and I had been short listed for an award.  There are 17 categories for the QIA awards (Quality Improvement Agency) with ten people short listed in each category.  My category was for ‘outstanding work with learners with learning difficulties and /or disabilities’.  I had been nominated for the work we are doing at the Coney Hill Neighbourhood College with our VIP computer workshops.

In late September Rob, Lewis and I took off for Warwick College to attend a regional event for short listed nominees and their nominators in the Midlands area. We arrived at the college and were greeted by two nice young men who had been looking out for us to make sure we arrived safely and to show us to the lift to the venue.  It was in a lovely old building with a steep flight of steps to the main entrance! Once we arrived at the venue we were warmly greeted and given a pack for the day which had all the information we would need.  We also had to pose for lots of photos and here is one!

We had a very interesting day, meeting lots of other nominees and finding out what people were doing in the field of Further Education.  There were talks about the awards and also talks from previous winners who told us how being nominated and/or winning had made a great difference to their work and helped with funding projects etc.

I met Andrea from the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford and she remembered me from their pilot Teletutoring group!  She said it was really great that I had been short listed as the college had won an award the previous year and now, here was I, a former student and short listed nominee!  This resulted in lots more photos!

After a nice buffet lunch and a bit of a relax and time to look around the college and see some of the learners’ work, we all gathered again in the main hall.  All the short listed nominees were presented with certificates naming us as being short listed.  It was a really nice ceremony and we all took our turns going to the front to receive our certificates accompanied by a fanfare! 

Then the day was over and we all left having been made to feel really special and proud to have reached this stage of the awards.

The next event was to be the final – which would take the form of an ‘Oscars ceremony’!  It was to be held in London on the evening of Monday 30 October, at the Battersea Evolution Centre.

The invitations arrived and myself and a guest of my choice – Paul – were invited to a ‘glitzy banquet!’  So it would be posh frocks and all that.  It would also mean a stay overnight in London as the ceremony would finish late on Monday night/early Tuesday morning!

So, we booked a hotel as near as we could get and arranged for Lewis to go and stay with his friend Lyndsey.  It wouldn’t be fair to take him to London as it was going to be a busy couple of days.

The evening arrived and we set off from the hotel in a taxi, all dressed up and ready to go. 

The taxi pulled up outside the venue and we really did feel special.  There were ‘doormen’ waiting to show us inside and we were handed glasses of champagne as we went into the foyer.

We left my jacket in the cloakroom and I was presented with a   white rose corsage.  All the nominees got flowers – the ladies had corsages and the men buttonholes.  It was a bit like being on a date and expecting someone to meet you under the clock wearing a carnation!  But it was a lovely idea and everyone knew who the nominees were.

Once inside, e had an opportunity to see some of the work done by colleges around the country.  One college was training mechanics for Harley Davidson and there were several shiny motor bikes.  I even got to try one out – unfortunately not on the road!

A college in Blackpool is now running a course for casino croupiers and we could have a flutter with someone else’s money – but there were no winnings!

Whilst we were all taking our seats the drama students from another college offered us a performance art demonstration which had a carnival theme and was very exciting with clowns and everything.

We found our table and Paul and I were really happy to find we had been seated with Andrea from RNC in Hereford so we had someone we knew to talk to!

Once everyone was seated we were treated to a performance of songs from musicals and it was really well done and got everyone in the mood for a really exciting evening.

Dinner was served and everyone enjoyed a really tasty meal.  We all had time to meet our co-diners and chat about the work we were doing.  All through the meal a video was running on stage, showing nominees and nominators at the various regional events.  Rob and Lewis were there too! Then, as coffee was being served, the award ceremony began.

Christian Guru Murphy, from Channel 4 news, and Dame Kelly Holmes presented the ceremony.  We heard video greetings from several people who told us how important our work was in changing their lives for the better. Even the Minister was there and he told us how important the work being done in FE is. Then came the presentations.

Each award was presented by the sponsor for that category.  The list of ten short listed nominees was read out and then the highly commended person was announced.  Then a video clip of the winner’s nominator, explaining why they had nominated the person, was shown and the winner announced. 

It was all a bit nerve wracking!  And my category came last – seventeen out of seventeen! All the ten names were read out and I thought that would be it, my one and only mention.  I was still a bit bemused at being there at all!  Then the words came, ‘the highly commended goes to … SUE ALLARD from Coney Hill Neighbourhood College!’

Paul gave me a hug and Andrea took my hand and congratulated me!  I really couldn’t believe it.  I hadn’t won but I had come second.  It was great to think that the work we are doing with our visually impaired learners has been recognised and I hope they don’t think I let them down by not winning.  I know they were all rooting for me and supporting me all the way.

Then there were a few special awards and the ceremony was over.  However, we all were then asked to go on stage for a photo session.  So, all the winners and highly commended made their way to the stage and we all posed for photos.  I felt as though I couldn’t stop grinning, now it was all over!

After the photos the ceremony was officially closed and we were all invited to stay for the party.  By now it was getting pretty late and most people seemed to be making their way out to the taxis so we decided to follow suit.  We collected my jacket and got in the queue.

We shared a taxi back to our hotel with Andrea and her husband and they kept saying how pleased they were that I been highly commended.  It still hadn’t sunk in then!  We dropped them at their hotel and went on to ours, getting back to our room sometime after midnight

We decided not to wake anyone up!  We went to bed feeling very tired, excited and pleased.  We could let everyone know in the morning

And so, that’s how I almost became a STAR but still came away with second prize!!

Sue

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