This time I was up for the Volunteer category. In fairness it may be my strong suit: an honest biography says I've been doing LGBT volunteering every month, usually every week, for the past twentysome years of my life. Sometimes big-ticket stuff: running a BiCon, inventing the Bisexuality Report. Often individual level change, being the first person someone can talk to about being bi, pressing an LGBT group about their failure to mention biphobia and the like. Sometimes, like a couple of years ago, it's had to be mostly online work when long-term illness has struck or been particularly challenging.
The LGBT Foundation say the awards were decided by some 11,000 plus votes, which with three nominees in each category would suggest I picked up something like 4,000 votes to beat the other two (4,000+3,500+3,500 = 11,000). That's more votes than the average Lib Dem candidate at the last General Election!
I'd written off any chances of winning to the point that I regarded it as a night out drinking with (oh dear) no worries about whether I would look presentable to collect a trophy. As the host read out the winner in my category, I mouthed the name of the person I reckoned was going to walk this category. My somewhat tipsy brain then did a couple of beats of "hang on, that one reading the name out got it wrong" followed by "wait, that's my name". Those sat round my table were then treated to a gracious yelp of "Oh (rudeword), it's me!"
So a big thank you to an awful lot of people I've never met who seem to have voted for me. You all totally threw me there!
(It's not my first shiny trophy. In 2005 I took the Home Office "Volunteer of the Year" award for contribution to the bisexual community while in 2002 there was a Cake Award from BiCon for, er, well I presume for keeping BiPhoria afloat while most bi groups were imploding, and my BCNning, BiCon running, inventing BabyBiCon and the like.)
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