in the news
from April 2008

The first Leeds Pride awards - The Owlies - were held on Tuesday 26th February at The Oracle in Leeds. Organised as the finale of Leeds’ first ever Winter Pride, representatives from various venues on the scene gathered to see who would win the awards as voted for by members of the public.

Over 600 individual votes had been cast and the top four nominees in each category were brought together to await the verdict.

A few surprises were in store for the gathering as the awards got underway….

Mark Thompson (Leeds Winter Pride chairman) compered the awards with music supplied by Marcus Rayne (the face behind Anna Glypta). Special guest Daniel Broughton (Mr Gay UK 2007) was on hand to present the winners with their award and a quick kiss!

All recipients were shocked and surprised at their awards, with Anna Glypta lost for words - possibly for the first time ever!

With all the formalities out of the way, there was only one thing left to do: hit the scene and celebrate with all the evening’s winners! A perfect end to a night that was enjoyed by all.

Or so I thought…….

Being a drag queen on the scene, and also involved with Leeds Pride, people seem to like letting you know their views. Which, on the whole, is great as it helps to mould future events like Pride, Drag Idol etc.

However, one thing that really pisses me off is when people air views that are tainted by sour grapes. Some people set out to discredit events and the organisation of them because they seem to think they are far superior to anyone else. I can say this because although I was nominated in three different categories, I didn’t come top in any. This is something that doesn’t bother me, as just being nominated is an achievement in itself.

But I want to address some of the issues that have been raised to myself and other scene workers and committee volunteers.

1. ‘I didn’t know the awards were happening.’

OK, so these were the first awards that have been done and things will have been learnt about many things, including publicity. However, The Owlies were advertised in Shout! for three months prior to the awards, with front-page editorial in the Dec/Jan issue. Along with this it was also advertised on the Leeds Pride website. Why not try reading the magazines available in all scene venues and you might learn what is going on in your own city!

2. ‘My friend should have won this award, and I should have won that one.’

Plain and simple: grow up! You didn’t get as many votes as the winner did!

3. ‘I do my job better than that person, they should never have beaten me. It’s a joke!’

When you come back down to earth from the planet Tosser, think about this: these awards were voted for by members of the public who frequent our venues and in a lot of cases wouldn’t be in a position to give a professional opinion on the managerial skills of venue managers, or who is technically the best bar person or door person. With any kind of awards that are voted for by the public, there is always going to be an element of the popularity factor. Like I have already said, being nominated is an achievement in itself. It becomes a sad affair when you need to validate yourself by winning an award! Get yourself off to charm school and maybe next year you might win....

4. ‘The same clique win everything. They organise the events and then get the awards. It’s unfair.’

The reason why the same people always seem to organise all the events is because if they didn’t get up off their arses and get involved, the would be no events! If you truly feel that this is the case, and that the so-called clique is dominating everything, then you know what to do: stop whinging and whining and get involved with one of the committees. The people that organise these events do so for the good of the scene. They give up their spare time and work around home and other commitments.

Ranting aside, events like the Pride Awards, Leeds Pride, Winter Pride and Drag Idol are put on for entertainment and enjoyment. If you think you can do a better job, or have ideas to improve things get inbolved and stop moaning. Speak to Anna Glypta, Jon or Danny at Clonezone or myself, if you are interested and see how you can join in and get your ideas heard. Do bear in mind though, if you are going to start moaning and slagging off events, we will all probably tell you to fuck off!

Daisy DuPont

The winners!

Best Venue: The Bridge

Best Lgbt Employer: Clonezone

Best Support Service: Yorkshire MESMAC

Best Volunteer: Jon Bishop

Best Social Group: T-Girls

Best Organisation Worker: Tom Doyle at Yorkshire Mesmac

Best Charity Organisation: Yorkshire MESMAC

Best Venue Worker: Bubbles at The Viaduct and Daniel Cher Bailey at The Bridge and Clonezone

Best Door Person: Tracy Farrar at The New Penny

Best Dj/Entertainer: Daniel Cher Bailey at The Bridge

Best Venue Manager: Jon Bishop at Clonezone

Leeds Pride Hall of Fame awards:

Leeds Gay Community Group

Tom Doyle - Yorkshire Mesmac & Leeds Pride Chair

Mark Michalowski - Shout! magazine

Anna Glypta - The Viaduct