Richard H's rendition of the Locomotion has the 2 X Factor judges in rapture

If anyone out there is in a creative job but hasn’t read Paul Arden’s: ‘It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be’, I’d recommend getting hold of a copy. Among other things, Mr Arden talks about awards in the creative industry being a bit of a paradox. Being creative means being innovative and doing something new, but award winners are generally picked by consensus within a group of people who invariably pick something they feel comfortable with – often something familiar and, therefore, not that creative! It’s an interesting point.

A cynic would say that creative awards achieve two things – they satisfy egos and they win work. We don’t do them. We don’t have egos and we’re awesome at winning work.

Joke.

Actually the purpose of this post is to recognise a man who generally keeps a low profile here at DNA. In 2001, as a founding director, he helped Paul get DNA up and running, but nowadays he spends most of his time in the garden or on the golf course. Lucky bugger.

But we wanted to say a big congratulations to Richard Hopkins. He wouldn’t tell you himself, but he’s just received two national awards.

Rich was presented with the “Paul Harris Fellowship” in April, in recognition of 16 years of good deeds and charity work, which culminated in a very successful event he ran for Children In Need in conjunction with the BBC in September 2008. As if that weren’t enough, Rich was then presented with an award by Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland. The “ORDET” award (which stands for ‘Ordinary Rotarians Doing Extraordinary Things’) is open to 60,000 Rotarians around the UK and Ireland, and Rich was one of only four people nationwide to receive it. This award was presented in recognition of Richard’s pivotal role in Rotary’s 2008 “Devon Sings” project.

I know that these awards both meant a great deal to Richard and to his wife, Anne, so from everyone here at DNA, a huge congratulations. Well done Rich – it couldn’t have gone to a better man.

See you on the 1st tee some time soon!