Awards round up

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I’ve had a busy old time recently, supporting clients with awards nominations.

Family Law Awards

Two sets of finalists in this for The Family Law Company – the Costings Team in the Legal Support Team of the Year and the Children Team in the Team of the Year.

I was particularly thrilled that the Costings Team won their award. They’re a team of three who are never in the limelight. Their expert work in undertaking admininstrative tasks for legal aid cases and providing training for their colleagues cannot be underestimated. Well done Polly, Maureen and Kim. The Children Team didn’t win this time, but there’s another bite at the cherry coming up for them!

Rory Bremner, Kim May, Polly Hall, sponsor by Telling Photography

The Notty’s

A new awards event in the Exeter area. Optix Solutions were in the top three of two categories, Marketing Maestro and Fearless Leader. A real shame that they didn’t walk away with one of the unusual bow-tie trophies, but with so many nominations they should feel proud. And there’s always next year!

Westcountry Women Awards

Two different clients in the finals. It was amazing for them to get there as the awards received thousands of entries. So in the top three were Carrie Laws from The Family Law Company for the Diversity & Equality Award, and Beth and Andrea from Coldharbour Farm Field Kitchen for Women in Food & Drink.

Again, one win and one slight disappointment! Carrie won her category, and I have to say it’s about time her amazing work was recognised. Beth and Andrea were pipped at the post by the Cotley Arms, but top three in the region, that’s not to be sniffed at.

Carrie Laws photo by Poppy Jakes

British Family Law Awards

Early days for this as the finalists have only just been announced, but congratulations to Shreya from The Family Law Company for being in the finals of the One to Watch category.

Upcoming

The Exeter Living and DASLS Awards are now open, so it’s head down once again for nominations. So more legal awards, but also a mixture for Exeter Living. I’m looking at Retail, Bar, Restaurant and People Services. Lots to do in the next few weeks!

Optix really is best place to work

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I’ve been working with Optix Solutions for just under a year. It was a bit of a slow burn start as I got to know the business and the people involved. But now, there’s no stopping them!

It’s a fantastic mix of PR opportunities, including press releases, podcasts, contributions to leading business magazines and, of course, awards. Optix MD Rob Stevens asked me to help with the submission for Campaign’s Best Place to Work awards. Optix has been in the top 100 for two years in a row, but with the company increasingly focused on employee satisfaction, there looked a good opportunity for them to do even better.

I worked with Rob and the team to build the submission into something extra special. All the information was there, it sometimes just takes someone from outside of an organisation to point out that what a company is doing day to day is actually pretty impressive! That’s my skill.

Optix found out they were in the top 100 for the third year back in March. But then they were invited to an awards reception in London. And next, Rob was interviewed by a journalist. Lots of positive noises. Rob and colleague Xenia went to the reception and discovered that Optix had won the boutique agency category, and had been placed fourth overall in the top 100. Quite an achievement.

I’m really proud to have helped them with this success. I always say that I’m fortunate to have a client portfolio that features so many ethically minded individuals and businesses. Optix genuinely cares about its team, which is why they so deserve this award. Congratulations!

 

Gold for Coldharbour!

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On February 2nd the Devon Tourism Awards took place in Plymouth. I was thrilled that one of my newer clients, Coldharbour Field Kitchen, was a finalist in the Casual Dining category.

Being a finalist means you’ll win one of three awards, bronze, silver or gold. In the same category, the other finalists were theCary Arms & Spa, Babbacombe and the Pier Point Restaurant and Bar, Torquay. Both exceptional dining establishments. To be honest, I think we all thought Coldharbour, which only opened in 2022, would get bronze.

On the night, I couldn’t make the awards event but watched everything unfold on Twitter. I shrieked when I saw that Coldharbour had scooped gold! I Whatsapped Andrea and Beth at the same time that they Whatsapped me, clearly in shock!

Having worked with Andrea and Beth on the awards submission, their dedication to local sourcing, great service, accessibility and sustainability shone through – no doubt the reason they shone in their category. Congratulations to them both, and the rest of the hard-working team.

They’ve just reopened after a break during January, and their new, all-day Sunday breakfasts look sublime. Five fluffy pancakes topped with chocolate sauce, banana and toasted pecans sounds right up my street.

Exeter Property Awards Success

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It has been an extraordinary year for client awards successes. I have to say I’m gobsmacked, not a word I use often! The latest was the Exeter Property Awards. This was the inaugural event and I had worked with two clients, SunGift Solar and Burrington Estates to put submissions together.

Both were shortlisted in a number of categories, SunGift in the Green Initiative and Suppliers & Services categories and Burrington Estates in the Developer and Transformation categories, the latter for the amazing Winslade Manor on the Winslade Park development.

These awards took place during an afternoon event at Sandy Park. I wasn’t there in person, in fact while the awards were being announced I was walking the dogs on Hembury Fort! However, I followed the results on Twitter. I lost the connection for a while, but when Twitter updated I was thrilled to see that SunGift had collected the Suppliers & Services award, and Burrington Estates had won the Transformation award. What I didn’t know until later on in the evening when SunGift MD Gabriel texted me, was that SunGift had also jointly won the Green Initiative with Grenadier (who collected a whopping three awards in total). Well, I have to say, three out of four ain’t bad!

There are just two more to go now, with the Western Morning News Awards (SunGift again) and the Family Law Awards, where The Family Law Company is shortlisted in the Wellbeing category. Then maybe a month or two respite, before it all starts again….

Congratulations to all the winners at the Exeter Property Awards!

 

Awards update

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With apologies for the double negative, I can’t not revisit this after the Devon & Somerset Law Society (DASLS) Awards took place last week.

It was a ‘virtual’ awards event, hosted by David Fitzgerald and perhaps the quickest awards I’ve ever attended (I think it took all of 30 mins)! I’d poured a glass of fizz in readiness just in case one of the finalists from The Family Law Company won. In the end I had to pour another as the award wins came thick and fast.

The first announced was the President’s Special Recognition Honours, a new award introduced to acknowledge someone who went the extra mile for clients and colleagues during the pandemic. I’d helped to put together a nomination for incredibly hardworking Senior Associate Solicitor Imran Khodabocus – and was so pleased when he was chosen in recognition for his extraordinary commitment not just in his work but for his community.

In the category awards success for The Family Law Company continued. Jane Chanot won Solicitor of the Year; Cassie Saunders picked up Support Team Member; Hannah Porter was named Rising Star; Gemma Sparks won Chartered Legal Executive; and Donna Hart was highly commended in Leader of the Year, with Grace Bradley a finalist in the Legal Aid Lawyer category.

At the same time as DASLS, the National Paralegal Awards took place virtually. The Family Law Company’s Becka Combes was a finalist in the Family Law and Best Newcomer categories and was delighted to win both categories. Becka wrote both her nominations, I just gave her a little help in tidying them up. So all credit to Becka, what a great win!

PS there was much hilarity at DASLS when one of the finalists forgot to mute themselves and we all heard them discussing Gus Honeybun who, local people will know, was a stuffed rabbit who Mr Fitzgerald had to work with many moons ago…. Let that be a lesson to all of us who continue to use Zoom.

PPS Not long after DASLS, The Family Law Company also won at the prestigious Law Society Awards, where they were awarded Excellence in Practice Management. Wow!

Awards Season

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Awards season 2021 has been non stop with nominations for clients. In fact, I can’t remember when I’ve worked on quite so many.

Now the shortlist announcements and awards events are in full swing.

Four clients were finalists at the recent Exeter Living Awards:

  • Winners: The Recycled Candle Company (Retailer) and The Family Law Company (Legal & Financial)
  • Finalists: Burrington Estates (Property) and Griffin Chartered Accountants (Legal & Financial)
  • The Outdoors Group won Education, with their own nomination

The Family Law Company is a finalist in the upcoming Family Law Awards (Wellbeing), Law Society Awards (Excellence in Practice Management), DASLS Awards (seven categories!), Paralegal Awards. They were finalists earlier in the year for the Legal Aid Awards and we have also entered the Wellness Awards.

The Recycled Candle Company has won a Green Apple Environmental Award and – all being well – will visit the Houses of Parliament to collect the award in November. We’re trying to get a Queens Award nomination ready but there’s so much detail this one may have to wait a year.

My newest client, SunGift Solar, is a finalist in the Western Morning News Awards in both categories we entered, SME and Environmental. We wait to hear with bated breath about the Solar & Storage Awards.

And I have recently submitted a nomination for London client Diespeker & Co in the South East Manufacturing Awards.

More to come with the Exeter Property Awards and then I guess we start all over again!

There is definitely a skill to writing a successful nomination. And whilst data and evidence is of paramount importance, it is also crucial to be honest, and to give heart to a nomination.

It’s all part of the service!

Volunteer Mentor Award

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Life sometimes takes an unexpected turn doesn’t it? It certainly did on Friday November 20th when I found myself attending a digital awards event ‘in’ Hull.

My connection with Hull came about after I reconnected with Charles Cracknell, an alumni of King Alfred’s College (now the University of Winchester). Charles commissioned me to copy-edit the Hull Global Entrepreneurship Week brochure and it’s become an annual project. I have got to know many names of the businesses, schools and individuals who get involved in GEW each year.

When lockdown hit, a lot of the young entrepreneurs were excluded from financial help as they’d not been in business long enough. A dangerous oversight I think. Charles wasn’t going to sit back and do nothing so he asked business people to help out as a mentors. I agreed to get involved. And so I was introduced to Blush Cleaning, and the vivacious Alex and Nicole. Over the months I’ve given them support with grant applications, Covid-19 safety protocols and advice for Facebook posting (they’re actually really good at it!).

I knew from my copy-editing that GEW always had an awards event, the Hull Youth Enterprise Awards, so I was rather surprised – and pleased – to be included on a shortlist as a Partner. I was even more pleased that Blush Cleaning was a finalist for Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

For the event, I duly looked out a smart top, although I will admit to wearing fluffy socks. I poured myself a glass of fizz. I saw and heard lots of people I’ve come across in the brochure copy year after year – it was fantastic to put faces to names. And then the awards were announced.

I was thrilled when Alex and Nicole were announced as winners of The Sheila Waudby Young Entrepreneur of the Year. I didn’t win my category, but then I wasn’t expecting to. But then came a category I wasn’t aware of, with special Awards presented for outstanding service to enterprising young people. Announcing the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Volunteer Mentor Award, the presenter described the winner as living in Devon… I realised it was me! I think I gave a little acceptance speech, I can’t remember as I was in shock. And maybe on my fourth glass of fizz!

So thank you to the lovely people of Hull GEW and the John Cracknell team. I love the fact that I’m here in the deepest South West supporting young entrepreneurs in the North East. When things settle down I’ll be paying a visit to meet Blush Cleaning face to face!

Winners

Best Professional Service Award

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Wow! I went along to the 373 Awards in the capacity of a finalist, and came home as an award winner!

It was a complete surprise to be named winner for Best Professional Service, and a real honour. Thank you to those who nominated me.

I was slightly concerned as two clients were finalists in the same category and I didn’t want to upset anyone… but I needn’t have worried. Chilcotts were awarded Highly Commended, which they were delighted about, and Rachel Buckley from The Family Law Company was named Top 373 Person. So everyone was happy.

Well done too, to Sarah Martin at Nourish, Highly Commended in the Start Up category and Rusty Pig, who although they didn’t win, were worthy finalists in the Rural category.

It was lovely to meet all the other finalists at the awards event held at Escot House. The 373 Awards celebrate lots of businesses that don’t always get recognition, so many of them I didn’t know of before.

I came home with a lovely hamper of goodies donated by local busineses, including a jar of award-winning raspberry jam from my client Otter Garden Centres! (I have to say the chocolate didn’t make it home, it was consumed immediately by Rachel, Donna Hart and me!).

DASLS

Legal Awards Success

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After the success of Nourish at the Exeter Living Awards, it was the turn of long-term legal clients The Family Law Company at the Devon and Somerset Legal Society Awards.

They were shortlisted in five categories and were kind enough to invite me along to join their table at the awards event held at Exeter Cathedral. What a beautiful venue, if a tad chilly!

After a lovely dinner created by Taste Catering (which included the challenge of carving a huge piece of lamb for the meat eaters and a whole stuffed butternut squash for us veggies), the awards began.

Our first thrill was when Kirsty Thyer from The Family Law Company’s Plymouth office was awarded Highly Commended as Leader of the Year.

Kirsty Thyer

Next, the whole firm was recognised as the winners of Law Firm of the Year (1-10 Partners). Our table got very loud, then very quiet as the whole team made their way to the stage to collect the award! But that wasn’t the end of it, and there were tears all round when Imran Khodabocus was named Solicitor of the Year.

Also up for awards were Carrie Laws, for Chartered Legal Exec, and Hannah Porter for Rising Star. Although they didn’t win, they were both proud to be finalists and will no doubt be put up for awards again soon (Carrie has already been entered for the CILEx Awards).

I was totally surprised a couple of days’ later when a beautiful bouquet of flowers arrived on my doorstep, from Rachel and everyone at the firm, thanking me for my efforts helping to write their award submissions. Well, I always say that an award submission is only as good as the people it is written about. You can’t make an awards submission up, you have to write the truth. I knew when I interviewed Imran, for example, that he was a potential winner as his story was so compelling.

Well done to this amazing firm, they’ve had to get a bigger trophy cabinet. We’ve just released the news that they have appointed four new Directors (and amazingly for a law firm, 58% of the Board are now women!).

Sarah with her award

Nourish is the Winner!

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It was a pleasure to attend this year’s Exeter Living Awards with two clients, The Family Law Company and Nourish of Topsham.

The event is held annually at The Great Hall at Exeter University, which was beautifully decorated, as usual.

I believe I proved my worth to Sarah of Nourish when I elbowed my way to the free bar to grab the last two glasses of pink prosecco on arrival.

What a lovely night it was, especiaWith Sarah at Exeter Living Awardslly when Nourish was announced as the winner of the Retail category. Which I almost missed as I was scrabbling around on the floor trying to find a bracelet that had slipped from my wrist.

I seem to remember Sarah swearing mildly when she went on stage to receive her award (this was nothing compared to the Mexican wave initiated by another winner, Good Game, who were, they freely admitted, slightly the worse for wear).

Commiserations to The Family Law Company who were pipped at the post in the Legal and Financial category, but coming up very soon is the DASLS Awards. I have everything crossed that they will collect at least one award at this event. Nourish is a finalist again at the Venus Awards next week, in the New Business Category, so watch this space!

I’m now working on submissions for the Exeter Business Awards for a number of clients, after which hopefully there will be a break before the next raft!

Although it seems to be awards season at the moment, there’s plenty more going on; Nourish is working towards opening its second store in Magdalen Road, and I’m delighted to have secured lots of great coverage for this including: Devon Live | Business Insider | Exeter Daily | Crumbs Magazine