Stiff competition

Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell looks ahead to Friday’s G-Awards.

In two days’ time, the great and the good of the industry (plus a few hangers on, like me) will descend on the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane for the G-18 Awards. Award-winning comedian and author Mark Watson will host the presentation. Mark is Time Out Critic’s Choice and his recent TV credits include Taskmaster (Dave) and Bear Grylls’
Celebrity Island (Channel 4).

Mark has been the face of shows such as BBC Four’s ‘We Need Answers’ and BBC Radio 4’s ‘Mark Watson Makes The World Substantially Better’. He has also appeared on ‘Mock The Week’, ‘Celebrity Pointless’, ‘Have I Got News For You’, ‘Would I Lie To You?’, ‘Live At The Apollo’, and Channel 4’s ‘Comedy Gala’.

He is currently recording another series of his Radio 4 show ‘Mark Watson Talks A Bit About Life’.

I’m sure you’ve all studied the awards supplement that was posted out with the November issue of Glass Times, and you are aware of the difficult task presented to the judges. I have a small confession to make: in all the years that I have reported on these awards, I have not once properly scrutinised the shortlisted entries.

Indeed, I have drawn up a shortlist of entries in the course of news stories leading up to the event, and even published one or two of the press releases in a little bit of detail. However, this is the first year (because of the supplement) that I’ve gone out of my way to collate as much detail about the entries as possible. Therefore, this is the first time that – having seen each category in its entirety – I have appreciated just how tough the awards are.

Not that I ever thought that winning an award was a breeze, you understand, but publishing the shortlist has made a real difference to my appreciation of the competition.

Good luck to everyone, and I’ll see you there.