I was first informed of my nomination for the PA Awards 2019 back in February 2019, and was asked to complete my application form which I did with excitement and pride.
I received notification that my application had been accepted and was invited to take part in a telephone interview as the next stage of the process.
Before the telephone interview day arrived, I was invited to and attended a PA Awards Event at the Bank in Birmingham, and had a wonderful evening meeting and chatting to the other equally excited nominees. The sponsors and committee members involved were lovely, helping to make the whole process such a success, not to mention the one and only Daniel Skermer who lives and breathes the PA Awards and made everyone feel so welcome and special. The atmosphere and buzz about the place was truly amazing.
Leading up to the telephone interviews, I was supplied with questions that I was able to prepare answers for and I have to say, although of course the nerves are inevitable, the panel of Judges were absolutely brilliant and put me at ease instantly, turning the interview into a warm, friendly chat. They genuinely just wanted to know more about me and why I loved doing what I do so much.
I was super excited to discover, a few days later, that I had made it through to the next round which was the face to face interviews. The nerves went up a notch at this point but again, I was supplied with questions in advance of the interview and so I got to work on preparing my answers. Throughout the whole process, Daniel was keeping me and the other nominees informed of any updates in relation to the process and always took the time to remind us just how amazing we had done to get this far.
On the day of the face to face interviews I was really nervous but again, from the moment I arrived at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Birmingham, Daniel was there to greet us all with a reassurance that everything was ok and we were all going to be fine. All the nominees were chatting together and we were all just genuinely happy to be a part of this amazing process.
My time came to go before the Judges and I have to say, they were simply sensational. They took the time to put me at ease and wanted me to feel as relaxed and as comfortable as possible. It was nowhere near as scary as I expected it to be. The 15 minutes absolutely flew by and I came out of the room to a sea of smiling faces asking me ‘what was it like?’ to which I replied, ‘they were just lovely, honestly they are so nice’.
That was it…….. all the preparation and hard work was over, I could do no more but look forward to the main event – The PA Awards 2019!!
But wait…….. yet another treat!! Prior to the Awards night, I was invited to and attended an event at John Lewis in Solihull where we were treated to a night of fashion, make up and all round gorgeousness!! This was another opportunity to meet up with our fellow nominees and celebrate just how far we had come! Another successful evening!
The big night itself arrived and it was fabulous! Glitz and glamour! Everyone looked incredible. The atmosphere was electric and you could feel the excitement in the room. It was like a night at the Oscars!
The whole process from start to finish was truly amazing and I am so grateful and proud that I was able to be a part of it. I will never forget this incredible experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking of nominating someone else or nominating themselves. Everyone should experience this amazing feeling at least once!
I loved it!!
