lucky remembering my phone number, so this
astonishes me!CURRENT RADAR INKLINGS?
So, who is on our radar for this year? Well, that is
a well-kept secret and for good reason.
I was fortunate enough to receive the
Claude McCarthy Award with my Awards
partner in crime, Mark Zed, a couple of years
ago. It came as a complete surprise to me when
the Honours Committee started to read out the
story about our journey.
I did the ugly cry, I don’t remember my
acceptance speech (athough I do remember
that Mark was far more eloquent), and the
rest of the night was quite a blur from the
excitement.
Did I feel a little like I had been presented
with the photography equivalent of an Oscar?
Just a smidge.
Do I wish I had known to expect the award
before the announcement? Not one iota. If I had
known I wouldn’t have enjoyed the night nearly
as much, because I would have been fretting
about my speech and where in the ceremony it
would appear.
Instead, I was able to enjoy a marvellous
night with my friends and colleagues,
completely unaware of what was ahead,
and could share my joy with them once the
formalities wrapped up.
When Keren Dobia APP M. Photog. II andKatrina Ferguson APP AAIPP were honoured
with the same award last year, the Honours
Committee arranged to have their partners
attend the dinner so the girls could party with
their nearest and dearest.
Sometimes a recipient is announced and
it turns out to be someone I’ve never heard of.
And that’s the importance of the citation read
by the Committee members on the stage - it
tells the dinner attendees why the person is so
deserving of the honour.
Because the process can take many years
to recognise an individual, it’s possible that
they have missed the radar of those of us in the
younger generations.
Mostly, they are the giants who enabled us
to stand on their shoulders to get where we are
today, and those short citations tell us briefly
how the recipient accomplished their feats and
why they are worthy of celebrating.WHY THE DINNER?
Finally, why are the Honours announced at the
APPA Dinner? Well, they actually aren’t. They
are announced at the Institute Dinner, which
happens to be where we also announce the
APPA winners.
And while some dinner attendees are there
to commemorate and commiserate APPA
results, the honours presented on that night are
to mark a long period of sustained achievement- sometimes the work of an entire lifetime.
NEWS