This week is proving to be another one of 'those'.
Having been away from my desk for most of the last two, I have been confronted with catching up with all that happened here while I was away, plus all that happened with me while I was away, and just a few pretty important deadlines.
One such is the Green Awards, which I should have missed because the original deadline was Sept. 30 and I plain forget about, but actually has been extended to this Friday. Karma. However as they need hard copy that means Thursday latest to catch the mail, Wednesday for safety.
There is also the draft deadline for the UnLtd. Awards. I am unsure if I should call them The Guardian Unlimited awards, as they seem to be co-hosting in some way, but are most certainly separate entities.
Anyway, I need to get a pretty well thought out initial plan to them Friday as well, for vetting before the actual proposal goes in the slot next week.
We're talking up to £20k, so it is worth it, plus of course mentoring and publicity, which is almost worth more. So it's a job worth doing well.
One of my many jaunts was to a day long event just to brief us, so you can tell how seriously they are taking it all. I met some nice, and relevant fellow applicants, and if nothing else can offer help to some.
I came away inspired. The best part is that this is the first award to not insist you blow it on stuff or consultants. They allow you to spend it on your time and skills too make your idea work. Awesome.
Also inspirational was a previous awardee, Sarah Newton, who is now promoting her idea, which is a site to boost young female role models who are not the media-hyped impractical and unhealthy fake ideals. I saw some similarities with our - very different - ideas and what's needed to help them succeed. Both are WYSIWYG in terms of concept and execution, so it's all mainly down to PR and promo.
A lovely, driven lady, she willingly offered her application to us all, and as a winning formula I will be using it as a basis. I wish her well. Her way seems better, and more cost-effective than some I have seen (see ad - how much is a full page in the ST? And I'm really not sure the creative had me clicking the link). A bit like another site I could mention, that's trying to inspire us to have fun saving the planet!
