And now to Sydney again
This time it's my turn. I was flabbergasted (but delighted) a couple of weeks ago when a nice man phoned me, told me to sit down and informed me that I'd won the Pascall Prize for excellence in arts journalism, the only award for arts criticism in Australia. The prize is named in honour of the flamboyant journalist Geraldine Pascall, who died tragically young in 1983, when I was half way through my cadetship on the Melbourne Herald and the thought of being a crrritic hadn't entered my head. I wish I had met her. To say I am honoured doesn't really cover it.
I won it for both my reviews for the Australian under arts editors Miriam Cosic and Matthew Westwood, who have been the best editors I've worked for (and whom I now realise were quite brave to employ me), and for my work on this blog. Word of the prize got out yesterday - not from me, as I've been the soul of discretion - and it seems that the news has caused a bit of flurry. The Australian has a story this morning, of course, and there's also a piece in the Age. Odd, as always, to see how I'm seen.
And now I have to catch a plane.
17 comments:
Congratulations Alison!
This is indeed wonderful news and well deserved.
Enjoy your time in Sydney.
I just read the story on The Age website, so came straight here to congratulation you. What wonderful news - well done, Alison!
So who broke the story? (I, too, have been the soul of discretion!)
Interesting that Le Lobster was a judge... (please sing: "and a good judge too!")
Let me add my congrats to the swelling pile - well deserved, Alison.
And mine. A most deserved recognition. Brava!
Great news! I'm delighted for you, for criticism and for the Internet.
Well many, apparently, have been souls of discretion :) But what a news, and how worthy of being indiscrete about! Congratulations, congratulations!
It must be so rewarding, after all that brouhaha, to have your critical practice recognised. Oh it does make a good Saturday morning for many of us to know merit goes rewarded. Brunswick cheers Croggon :)
Congratulations and thanks for your blog.
Congratulations, Alison. You and Daniel must both be floating. What an amazing coincidence to both get such high recognition in close proximity.
Congratulations! i reckon you deserve every bit of it.
Dear Alison, Congratulations on the award! It is in every way justified. Maintaining your blog alone is a Herculean labour that has been finally recognised. And you have promoted the cause of blogging as a viable part of the 'print' media continuum in the process.
Congratulations, Alison - the award is an official reflection of what the rest of us already knew.
Congrats, well deserved.
Goodness me ... is it wrong to be smiling and giggling while thinking of those who would be choking on their brekky while reading of the news?
Thank you everyone for the good wishes. They are most deeply felt, and very much appreciated! (It seems, btw, that it was the Pscall Foundation itself who let the cats out of the bag - they were all very pleased with the publicity). Now I think that everyone in Australia except me has read the judge's report. But I guess it will be online next week.
See you all in a foyer soon...!
Congratulations Alison! Well deserved. Sorry I couldn't be there at the event. Keep it all up
John McCallum
Many thanks John. And very nice to hear from a former winner!
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