Does winning this prize entitle me to call myself an “award winning”?

Does winning this prize entitle me to call myself an “award winning”? Technically, yes. But actually, no.

The prize was in a competition for a company that makes beach wheels, called Wheeleez. I used the wheels on a cart which I hauled across the world’s second biggest sand desert, the Taklamakan, in China, in 2016. This made for some fairly epic photos. And to my delight, I won the competition.

But I don’t think it makes me an award winning adventurer/photographer, because the competition category is too narrow! I think a good test for when we can boast of being “award winning” is if we would be happy for a famous person to ask me what my award was actually for. If I had to say “The wheeleez beach cart photo competition” I would be embarrassed.

I am grateful to keynote sales speaker Tom Abbott who recently challenged me about this in a speech he gave in Hong Kong. But although I won’t be adding “award winning” to my LinkedIn profile right now, I am still pleased I entered the competition. And what was the prize?

A brand new wheeleez beach trolley – perfect for the next expedition!