Wednesday 25 November 2009

Well well well. Where to begin?

This day had been a long time coming. A year (more or less) of working with smart, creative people to get PULP going for another year, a brand new website built specifically for the job, many experiences had and friends made. And then we applied to the Guardian Student Media Awards, almost on a whim, simply because we thought it’d be silly not to. When we found that we had been nominated in the publication design category and the website category, I was over the moon.

The website was initially created as a response to a seemingly lazy and uncaring Union dragging their heels getting a website going. It’s one thing not to have a website for the magazine, but being so late in getting the entire Union’s website up and running was just laughable. I concentrated on our – PULP’s – needs, and started a quick blog; somewhere to host the magazine’s content and anything else we felt like putting online.

As the year went on, we realised that the website had potential as a portal for exclusive web-only content that we simply couldn’t put in the magazine – predominantly video. And so we managed to get some interviews, live sessions, short films, skits and so on up on the site. And they were pretty popular.

Fast forward, then, to Wednesday 25 November 2009, and Camden. Meeting up in The Monarch on Camden High Street, the core of PULP’s 08/09 team (L-R): Online Editor Paul Capewell, Editor-in-Chief Holly Dicker, Illustrator Mick Gent, Writer/Right-hand Man John Tucker, Designer Matt Sidebottom.

The evening, for me, was something of a celebration of what we had achieved in the previous 12 months. In many ways it draws a line under PULP 08/09. It finished in June really, with the last issue, and a riotous live session in the Union offices (for which the footage may never be seen due to a lack of cooperation from a one-time PULP staffer). The website continued for the summer, with intentions to carry on with the new academic year’s team. Then that wound up too. But I’ve written about that at length. Tonight was about 08/09.

The venue was Proud Galleries, Camden, and we headed in for the ‘drinks reception’. Frankly, we needed as many as we could get. Surrounded by people we didn’t know, in a venue that was a cross between a stripclub and some stables, I had butterflies about how the evening would play out and Holly was feeling decidedly not up for it. On the hunt for more free fizzy wine, I joined Matt for a wander round the venue; he had also convinced me that saying hello to some random strangers would be a nice idea – and it was.

We found free wine, and we met representatives from Leeds, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Nottingham Trent and more. And they were all lovely, sporting, friendly folks. And why wouldn’t they be? They were just like us: students being recognised for flying the student media flag. To be honest, I could’ve done with another hour of this ‘networking’ – there were some genuinely lovely, warm, talented, beautiful and interesting people in that building that night, and I’d have been honoured to meet more of them.

But by the same token, I was pretty glad when the doors to the large area of the club opened. We filed through to the place where the awards were to take place. I stumbled – with several wines under my belt by then – past a man I would later realise was Colin Murray, who was hosting the show. To my joy, the (tiny) tables to which we were allocated held a good supply of free booze, and I made short work of a bottle of white wine.

Several jokes were cracked as time went on; about stuff Colin Murray said; the presence of one NME staffer whom PULP had a run-in with; about how staggeringly well-dressed some people were; and I seem to remember booing Sky News at one point.

I’ll be honest though: the show was a bit of a blur. I remember cheering several winners. I remember drinking an awful lot of wine. I even remember opening a bottle of horrible, American beer at one stage, before realising my mistake. But suddenly, the publication design category had arrived, and we saw PULP’s name on the screen and heard it announced in the list of nominees. And.. Somebody else won. Blast. But wait – the website category was shortly after.

I barely even remember hearing the names announced, or seeing the names on the screen. But the second I heard our name mentioned after the words “and runners-up…”, I stood up straightaway, made for the stage (mercifully close, given my level of inebriation), looking to see John close behind me. For some reason only myself and John took to the stage for the award. We were stood on the stage for what felt like ten minutes. I don’t remember what I saw. I remember giving the guy handing me the award a cursory handshake, and trying to work out what Colin Murray was saying to John. I remember a lot of photos being taken (photos which haven’t surfaced on the Guardian website yet – but I do hope they will). And then I remember going back to our seats and hugging Holly, Mick and Matt a hell of a lot. I also remember shaking the hand of as many of University of York’s web team as possible. We were runners-up, but they had won, and I felt it was right to acknowledge them, having largely ignored most of the other award winners that night.

John and I had to leave soon after, although not before making off with all the swag that we could find. Attendees scored a neat business card holder, engraved with the event’s logo, and I appear to have come away with a couple of posters, Newton’s cradles and Rubik’s Cubes. I’m not entirely sure if I was supposed to, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. In hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t realise on the night that the business card holder contained more drinks tokens. I’d definitely had my fill.

The journey home was also a bit of a blur, but I remember capping the night off with John by watching the interview we conducted with PULP’s 84/85 editor, Phil Korbel. In some ways, our runners-up award is a small achievement, nothing to shout about. But in another, the background to how it came about, the tiny team of people who helped make it a reality, and the status of the awards as the student media awards, all make this quite a big deal for me.

I feel very proud to have been a part of a movement, a collective, and an era. The award marks some of what we achieved; it also marks the end of that era. Or the beginning of a new one? Perhaps that’s the best way to look at it.