NAWGFest Gala Dinner

Last weekend I was at NAWGFest17, an excellent writers’ conference run by the National Association of Writers’ Groups. Saturday evening is Gala Dinner night, when those shortlisted in the annual writing awards gather to find out which of the is the lucky winner.

As one of the judges, I always enjoy this particular part of the weekend, because that’s when I get to find out which lucky writer penned the work in each of the categories that i judged. (The competition is judged blind – I have no idea who wrote any of the submissions.)

I, myself, was one of those recipients many (many) years ago, and I think as writers we’re rather shy about blowing our own trumpets. Events like this force us to do so.

NAWG is fortunate to have Julian Fellowes, Lord Fellowes of Stafford, as its president, and despite having two other commitments in London, he still found the time to come and visit us at the University of Warwick.

So congratulations to all those who won, or were shortlisted, and had the opportunity to chat to Lord Fellowes. The Welsh Borders might not be glamorous all of the time, but I do know that for one weekend of the year I can always find a bit of glamour … even if I do have to escape from the Welsh Borders and head east across the Midlands 😉