Judging.....done!

Now I and a handful of others have got the channel's biggest secret!

Well it is over for another year.

Channel Awards Judging that is.

Yesterday our panel of judges spent six hours deliberating and deciding on this year's winners and now we have the long wait until November to find out who has been successful.

Of course I and the judges involved in each decision know - but they have all been sworn to secrecy and will delight as much as me in keeping the secret. A huge thanks to them all for their hard work and dedication to the awards.

I must remark once again on the quality of entries - quality really has gone up, and while it still isn't perfect across the board, we are definitely heading in the right direction - so thank you to everyone who made the effort this year.

Unfortunately not everyone can be a winner - but the judges had several instances yesterday where the final decision had come down to the wire and they were struggling to make a final decision. No decisions were made lightly I can assure you all.

This leads me to the Judges Commended awards. I cannot stress enough how much of an achievement being awarded one of these is.

In the past some people have said they don't value this accolade because it is second best. As I said before, not everyone can win. No matter how much a certain government wanted it to be so.

Someone has to be a runner up. Or more fitting for this Olympic year, a silver medallist.

Because the competition was so tough this year, getting the Judges Commendation was no easy feat, and there haven't been that many awarded this year because it would have been very easy to get carried away.

Seriously - if you have won one of these this year - a massive well done to you too. Winning a silver medal in the Olympics was not frowned upon, and neither should this be.

Congrats in advance to everyone who has won something, but a huge thanks to everyone that made the effort to enter.

I hope you won't give up if you are not successful this year, and that instead it will spur you on to try again next year.