I am never going to apply for an award ever again. For those of you first tuning in to this blog, Plastered T-shirts made it into the finalists for the 2008 British Business Awards. This was a great honour but pure hell for the past two weeks… in the lead up to an awards ceremony one can’t help but wonder – have you won or not? Awards are funny things. I’m not quite sure why I got so stressed – I guess a lot of it is a fear of disappointing those around you – your family and friends. In my case, my mother had flown over from the UK to attend, and Prince Andrew was attending, and 400 additional guests. That might be it.

The night started poorly. I took my mother to the VIP reception to meet Prince Andrew and when we got introduced he walked off and said he needed to “get on”. I put my hand out to shake his hand and he shook it quickly, however in the same swift motion, he exited the room without acknowledging my mother, or even saying hello. Needless to say, my mother and I were a tad disappointed. Up next – the Gala Dinner, and the first award.

The first award to be announced was Young Ice Breaker which I thought was our biggest chance for a win but to the disappointment of all the friends and family at the table, we did not get it. From that moment on I started to get a bit depressed, not only getting “dissed” by the prince but also worrying that I had let down all my mates and mother. We were up for one more which was Entrepreneur of the Year, and to be really honest I had given up any hope of winning that one as the competition was too good.

The BP representative got up and read out the winner and meanwhile our table was busy eating and not really paying attention as we were sure it wasn’t going to happen. What happened then was the biggest surprise of my life as we heard “Dominic Johnson-Hill” and before he even said Plastered T-shirts I heard screams from the people around me. I spat out the disgusting risotto I was eating and went up to receive my award.

It was very surreal and I just managed a quick poke at Prince Andrew during my speech after which he came up to me and sort of apologized. That was nice. All in all, an amazing evening. I gave Prince Andrew some Plastered T-shirts (one for himself, and two for his daughters) and got so bloody plastered myself that I have no idea how I got home.

Thanks to all of you who voted for us online.