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!