Feature: The joys of being a (female) Awards Administrator.

Brenda Simonetti single-handedly (well, with a little help from her friends), deals with the hundreds of entries received at the ISP offices for the ISP Awards.

Some things never change. Whether there are 100 or 900 entries no more than six ever arrive before the closing date.

On the closing date several things happen. First, every courier in London descends on Arena House. Second, the phone starts ringing with excuses for not meeting the deadline, and very inventive they are too! “Can’t find the premium”, “Can’t find the director to sign the cheque”, “Can’t find the promoter to give permission to enter”, “Can’t find a courier till 11pm”, will you still be there?” Third, the ISP becomes the proud owner of enough packaging material to stock a fair sized stationery warehouse.

And it doesn’t finish there! Phones ring incessantly over the next two weeks with increasingly banal excuses for further extensions of deadlines.

But receiving the entries is only the start. It is quickly apparent that agencies can’t or don’t read the Ts & Cs. Some examples...

1. Please send three copies of the entry form with each entry, becomes, here is one form for six entries.
2. Don’t put your Agency Name anywhere except the entry form, results in the agency name being plastered all over every page of every entry.
3. Include a copy of the Ts & Cs of your promotion, results in numerous phone calls for, guess what, Ts & Cs.

Time would fail to enumerate the other shortcomings in presentation.

Then onward and upward: prepare a database, arrange 150 judges, food for same, marking sheets, results sheets, nomination lists, order trophies, plan A/V for the night, write up the Book of the Night and yes, attend the first planning meeting for the 2008 Awards the week after the Presentations.

Only a woman could do it.