When host with the most (velvety jacket) Darren Caveney announces the movie for attendees of the 2025 UnAwards to sit back and enjoy, he describes it with the adjective “feelgood”.
by Andrew Walker
And he’s right. The Ballad of Wallis Island is indeed a heart-warming, uplifting, laugh out loud tale (7.4 on IMDB / 96% on Rotten Tomatoes) which has the 140-plus auditorium of the Everyman Cinema in Birmingham captivated throughout, as far as I can tell from the darkness of my seat.
Why was it the perfect choice of film for this event?
The movie moment has become a perfect part of this most informal of awards events, held annually in early December as the industry for black-tie and gowns awards events goes into overdrive.
The previous evening, over chat and chaat in a favourite Brum Indian eaterie, there was, it is fair to say, fever pitch speculation over what film would be shown.
There was debate about the need to be the right kind of film to catch the lightness of mood, the length of movie needed for the slot in a busy day and about the appropriateness or otherwise of some scenes in some films which might only be realised as it’s playing on the big screen.
There were mischievous memories of the time Quentin Tarantino’s blockbuster Pulp Fiction played, and a dawning realisation on the day that some scenes might raise eyebrows to those who hadn’t heard it or seen it before.
Someone even resorted to AI using all of the available public information about the event and its history to guess the movie.
Like the movie shown this year, to describe the UnAwards as feelgood would be to understate the sentiment captured by the word.
It’s a positively joyful gathering of communications professionals from across the UK, from a myriad of sectors, specialisms and experience, many of whom submitted entries highlighting their work, a group of judges from different backgrounds and all four corners, and sponsors covering a range of services.
The focus is of course on organisations in the public sector and service. The range of submissions about work people care with passion about is mind-boggling.
As a judge for the third year in a row of the Best Small Team category I saw the tip of a very large iceberg – 20 submissions out of a total and record-equalling 593 -and we thought we had our work cut out.
Our winners this year came from Priory – with a submission highlighting the growing addiction crisis in the UK, efforts to help those who need it and a year-long effort to work the story through the media. Alex and Matt – hats off to you both. I know you both went home delighted with your award.
Hats off to all the entrants though – those commended, shortlisted and those who didn’t make it that far. That so many people take the time to enter and submit their work to such scrutiny and recognition is a bellwether of the pride that public sector communications professionals have in what they do (often under negatively-focused scrutiny on public sector services and spend).
They are a small but important and visible representation of communications teams around the country who - day in, day out - are working their proactive and reactive socks off and who didn’t enter their work; that doesn’t make it any less valuable or important.
Feelgood is absolutely the name of the game when it comes to these awards; they’ve been running for a decade and although around half of the attendees this year were new to the event, there is a feeling of coming-togetherness which is hard to describe otherwise.
I know from my own experience of the worth of the generosity of knowledge, experience and support of people in this wide network; being in the room with them is sending me home (I am writing this on the train north an hour after leaving New Street) with a very definite positivity – and speculating how next year’s feelgood film will match 2025.
Andrew Walker is head of corporate affairs and board member
