The BAPs (Bloody Awesome Parents) Blog Awards are an event put on by My Family My Needs every year, recognising SEN (Special Educational Needs) Bloggers across the UK. It is an amazing event that I never thought I would have the pleasure of attending, let alone walking away with an award!
How I Got There
It started back in the Summer when an email dropped into my inbox., the subject, “Congrats you are a finalist”, and my heart beat a thousand beats in astonishment. There were a number of categories within the awards, and I had been nominated for “Blog Post with the Biggest Impact” – Wow!
Read the nominated post below:
Out of all the thousands of bloggers, to actually have a post out of the millions of blog posts in circulation to be recognised, was just huge. But the strange thing was that if I had to choose the post I thought had the biggest impact, the one nominated, would not be that one. It highlighted to me that every post I wrote resonated with someone, and this post had impacted someone massively.
A Bump in the Road
The Blog Awards were scheduled for October, a Thursday night, and I pulled out all the stops to make sure I could be there in person. I was not a person who got nominated for these sorts of things. I am an IT architect, doing logical technical designs, not someone who was up there with the best in parenting or psychology subjects – but here I was on a list of finalists for something that was so close to my heart.
But things don’t always go to plan, and due to national rail strikes and another hit of the dreaded covid, the awards had to be postponed.
The Night Arrived
The 2022 awards were hosted in the amazing Athena in Leicester. The building is amazing, with big doors entering into a foyer. As we walked into the second set of doors, the place was lit up and I was overcome with nostalgia. The bar was to the left of us, and down a few steps was a hustle and bustle of over a hundred people, all seated at round tables laid with dinner wear, wine, and treats. Four massive letters were illuminated on the stage – B A P S.
I held my husband’s arm with nerves as we made it to table number 5, our seats for the night, or at least for the next few hours. I didn’t know anyone, except that I was aware of some other blogs I followed being there too. Little did I know, that I would leave having met some truly inspiring people, some who shared their journies through their blogs, and others who had impacted our communities through amazing actions of their own.
The Winners Announced
It did not take long before Cerrie Burnell took to the stage and gave us all an introduction to the awards, then it was straight in, with my category up first. I don’t think my heart has beat so hard and fast ever in its life. I was up against three other amazing bloggers, and reading their stories made me believe that I did not have a chance in this, their words and pictures of their journeys were inspiring.
But here I was.
As the words were read, I realised that they sounded familiar, but still, I couldn’t bring myself to think they could be speaking about me. The words were being spoken to over a hundred people, and they were all listening. Then it was confirmed, “The winner is A&Me”
I stood and walked to the stage, and all I could think was “Do not fall over”. You think of strange things in times of stress and anxiety, and these were my only thoughts, not to make a tit of myself!
When you type and share your story with thousands, it is done behind a screen, and your words are sent out into the social networking world, comments and likes come back, but standing on the stage, holding an award made me realise that there are real people on the other side of the screen. There are people reading my stories, and my posts so make an impact.
As I returned to my seat, I just looked at the award in my hand. I had won a blog award, something I never thought was possible. I knew that my posts were helping others and I was so grateful to be recognised for them.
The BAPS blog awards recognise SEN bloggers and contributors to raising awareness of disability every year. Details can be found on the My Family Our Needs site.
