The .Net award nominations have recently been released. A list of what many deem to be the best people at this moment on the internet. Yet, it seems not everyone buys into them or the list. Many see it as an ego trip or want of a better phrase a “wank fest”.
Is it?
An award is something given to a person, a group of people, or an organisation to recognise their excellence in a certain field
To me, awards are a grand affair, mainly due to watching the Oscars or the Baftas as a child. The celebrities walking down this red carpet whilst the commoners look on in awe. The tables with overflowing champagne and expensive sausage rolls with the fake smiles and applause. Awards I guess look fake and an excuse for people to lap up attention.
Do I really believe that?
No, not when you think about it. Awards are just part of the movie world. It makes money and it sells more films and keeps the profile up. It goes hand in hand. There is obviously an element of recognition for the good work so many do so we mustn’t lose sight of that.
They just look over the top.
So what about the .Net awards. Are they over the top? No, of course not. I didn’t want to compare the .Net awards with the Oscars. And I’m not really. They are however a way of recognising the good in the industry. There always seems to be a level of hate (maybe a strong word there) directed at the people nominated when in fact they have nothing to do with this process. Is it jealousy? Most likely I guess. But ultimately, this is about the people choosing, their choices for who they deem worthy.
Is there a case of the nomination process being flawed? I saw recently 2 people pull out, I know one citing that they hadn’t done anything of note in the last year. so how can they be nominated? Is this favouritism coming into play here? Do people live in a bubble and don’t see the wider audience? I’ll be honest, some of the people nominated I’ve never once heard of. There are of course people I do know, some are friends. I’m made up that the community saw fit to say that these people make a difference. I’ve seen the hard work and dedication go into something and that gets lost at times. Not everything happens on Twitter. People actually do work. And clearly, some very good work.
What is the point of this Dan?
What I wanted to achieve from talking about this was to focus on recognition. Whether it be at awards or at work. It is important to recognise good work and reward it. Our agency recently won an award for a campaign and were nominated for a few more. I had very little to do with the them in the big picture but I did contribute. Do I feel recognised? Not really if I’m honest but it’s nice to know the team have done something good which can only help us in getting good work in the future and hopefully winning more awards.
Do I see the awards as important? Yes and no, really. Recognition from the agency is more important. And it’s not just about awards either. Recognition doesn’t have to come when something amazing happens that everyone shouts about. I know plenty of people in life who deserve recognition for what they do no matter how small and trivial the thing they do seems to them. There are people making an effort and at times, effort goes unnoticed which is criminal.
To sum up…
So the one thing I take from writing this is that we should recognise good work. People who do good work should not feel bad about accepting the recognition. But we need to make sure we are are recognising the right people.