Gearing up for the big night

With this year's Channel Awards deadline fast approaching we can start to look forward to the shortlists and the event itself

The 14th Channel Awards ceremony is expected to be bigger than it has ever been, surpassing even last year’s 1,800 attendance. Table bookings are already strong and any channel firm that wants to ensure it has a good seat, should get in on the act as quickly as possible. It is perhaps worth noting that you can buy single seats as well as three different grades of tables that seat 10 guests each.

This year will see a slightly different awards service although there will be no less ceremony, glitz or glamour. The theme of the awards this year is ‘Get into top gear’, so as you can imagine, there will be plenty of entertainment around the theme of high performance and speed, and everyone will have the opportunity to show who really drives (and lives) in the fast lane.

There may also be a few sports and special entertainment events around the theme. But do not expect Lewis Hamilton to turn up – especially if he ends up winning the F1 World Championship.

As usual, there will be no clues given in advance of the night about who will be the celebrity host. All that CRN is prepared to reveal at this stage is that it will indeed be an ‘A-list comedian’ who can happily follow in the footsteps of the acts we have seen in previous years such as Jack Dee, Graham Norton and last year’s host Bill Bailey. This year’s very specific theme is bound to add to the speculation that always surrounds this particular element of the night.

This year’s charity is GapAid, which was set up by former Bell Micro executive and industry veteran, Ian French, after his daughter died in a bus crash in Peru earlier this year while on a gap year between school and university. GapAid will provide help for students who get into difficulties on their travels, from dealing with a lost or stolen passport or ticket, to legal difficulties or serious accidents.

With many people in the IT industry now reaching an age where their kids will indeed be off on their travels, there should be plenty of incentive to make the fund-raising elements of the event a big success for the charity. There will be plenty of opportunities to contribute on the night, but if you want to make a donation beforehand, visit the web site at www.gapaid.org.