Anyone attending the Optician Awards last Saturday night in Birmingham (news) couldn’t fail to have been impressed by the camaraderie and sense of belonging between those in the room. Everyone, fellow finalists included, were cheering on the winners and at times the room was as one.
The Optician Awards is a competition but it’s clear that those in the race to win one of those smart Art Deco trophies are on the same team. The success of the Awards has a number of effects. Winning an Optician Award is becoming harder, as the quality and volume of entries rises, but the kudos gained by that achievement is all the greater.
For me the power of the Optician Awards rests with the enthusiasm of the entrants and the effort that goes into the judging. Optician has adopted a range of judging mechanisms but has settled on using experts, peers and previous winners in panels for each of the categories. Some of the comments that come out of those panels are really heart-warming.
One of the new categories for this year, the Enhanced Service Award, springs to mind. The judges said of the winner that anyone concerned about the role of optometry in primary care could rest assured by the pioneering work of the winner – praise indeed.
My congratulations go out to everyone who won an Optician Award and my gratitude of all of those who entered.
