Well. Who’d have thunk it? Eight months on, I still relive the moment when I asked Darren and Emma Rodgers “Are you flippin (insert more forceful word here) sure?” when they announced that I’d actually won the Best Comms Pro category in the 2025 UnAwards.
by Clare Abbotts
Isn’t that just typical of us Comms people. Often self-deprecating though we often live and breathe what we do, “because… well… it’s just part of who we are, isn’t it?”
But no more. After a few more days of battling with my ever-present imposter syndrome and a half-expectation of Darren ringing and saying “we got it wrong,” something stirred. A belief. A relief. A core confidence I hadn’t felt for years.
And it came just at the right time. I thought I was done with Comms. I’d hit peri-menopause hard, and it affected everything. I was too old, too ‘flat’ and too neurodiverse (having found that I also have ADHD) to have the consistency, creativity and energy that any busy comms job needs.
But my new confidence, let’s call it my ‘Rockstar’, wasn’t having it. It was time to step up for the years of service; for the ever present feeling I put in twice the effort and get half as far; for the impact of the work I’d done.
And then, I won. I actually won.
So bring on the mega-project. The brief: create something good for our ten-year anniversary of Staffordshire Day. “We don’t know what, but our new administration wants the wow factor and absolute value for money. Crack on.” said the bosses.
“You’re a rock star,” said the part of me that won the UnAward.
“BS! Run-away,” said the imposter. But for the first time, maybe ever, this part was properly kicked to the curb.
A couple of weeks later, we were in a strategic partnership with the council’s brilliant tourism department “Visit Staffordshire”, we had developed multiple business cases and persuaded politicians still finding their feet to underwrite a £100,000 project.
“You will get it back and more so” I said. “Hoooyar” said the Rock Star.
And then in January of this year, I had to actually make that happen. The Staffy Trail. A sculpture trail of eleven giant Staffordshire Bull Terriers sculptures, 30 heritage stops and over 50 small businesses that tool people from Tamworth Castle in the south to places of real local pride in Stoke-on-Trent. A project that big and complex that usually takes 12 to 18 months to make happen. We did it in four. And it was a success.
The campaign saw £70k in private sponsorship.
£180k in economic uplift to local businesses.
A united strategic team and a comms team that has thrived beyond anything I could have imagined.
One very tired, but happy, Best Comms Pro, 2025. This simply wouldn’t have happened without the UnAwards.
So, to all of you comms people on a downer. Make the time and put in the award entry. You deserve it. Find your rockstar.
Clare Abbotts is senior campaigns officer at Staffordshire County Council and an UnAwards winner
The 11th annual UnAwards will open on 1 September 2026 and are free to enter. More HERE.
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