Allie Award – AGAIN!!!! 2009 Best Event Photography!!!!
Alicia, Me, & Steven with the Allie Award for Best Event Photography!
I am so honored…and was almost speechless because I really wasn’t too sure this year how the decision would go. Here, 7 years from the first time I entered the Allies in 2002, I have won my fourth Allie Award for Best Event Photography! This is a local recognition by our peers in the special events industry in Atlanta. We have VERY specific rules and guidelines which any one can see at the Allies web site, but to summarize we can choose an event in the last calendar year (Jan 1, 2008-Dec 31, 2008) and only ten photos from that event that depict the event’s activities, decor, participants, catering, venue and have a “Wow” factor. We also must do a written, two-page description of the event, our responsibility, our challenges & obstacles, and our client’s goals and expectations and how those were met (whew!).
This year I chose to enter two entries since I am now a member of NACE (you are allowed an additional entry for each membership your company holds) so I entered Brittany & Chuck’s wedding at Lake Rabun and Deborah & Tony’s wedding at the Fox Theatre. It was Deborah & Tony’s that got the nomination! I called it “Rockin’ the Fox”!
Me accepting my Allie and slightly stunned by the outcome
This year was a record year for entries in the Photography category. We had seven entries from six companies (two of the entries were from me) and four nominees resulted due to a tie. When we are notified of the nominees, all we know is the company’s name that is nominated. Only at the awards banquet during cocktail hour, will we see the actual entries and lay eyes for the first time on our competitions’ entries. This time like always, I was pretty nervous. I can be pretty hard on myself and my work and I didn’t have very high expectations once I saw who I was up against.
Big Band entertainment for the evening
I saw that the nominees with me were Mike Moreland, the Zenith Design Group (? that one had us scratching our heads?), and my good friends Anna & Spencer Clark. I really respect both Mike and the Clark’s very much so it was a honor to be nominated with them! Both of their entries were fabulous so in my mind, it was a complete toss up as to the outcome.
The glam girls, Dames Aflame as awards hostesses
I was not even nervous when they got to our category – third in the program that night so fairly early, during salads! I was genuinely expecting someone else to be announced….and then they said the magic words “Rockin’ the Fox….” and Alicia just SQUEALED and started clapping frantically…it took several seconds for it to register because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t aurally hallucinating!
Me & Mark's Allie
I am also so glad that of course (of COURSE) my good friend, Mark Brickman of Baker’s Man Inc won yet again (what’s this, the sixth time Mark? I lose track…!) for Best Cake Presentation. I’ve said many times right here on this blog, he’s the BEST for a reason!
You might notice they misspelled my name on the award – I’m supposed to get a new one this week. I get my name misspelled a lot so it wasn’t a big deal to me when I saw it that way on the nominations. But now I know better – I should have told them right away!
Alicia, Anna & Spencer Clark at our table
I also want to congratulate my other good friends over at Spectrum Entertainment for winning their FIRST Allie for Best Entertainment on a Shoestring! Congrats guys! You’re the best DJ friends a gal can have! ;o)
And to all the other Allie winners…AND nominees, congratulations! We’ll see you next year, too!
Here are the images I used in my entry, “Rockin’ the Fox” of Deborah & Tony’s wedding:
