Thursday morning saw the final ceremony of the UK Catalyst Awards at the Imagination Gallery in London, and what a fantastic morning it was - despite the early start!

The awards, which are the first of their kind, were launched last year by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown to try and uncover inspiring stories about the ways in which communities are being improved by the use of social technology. Some great stories were unearthed through the awards process which will hopefully inspire even more people to set up similar projects where they live, and enter the awards next year to make them even bigger and better!

Gordon Brown meets the FreqOUT! team, who eventually won the Chalk & Cheese Award at the Catalyst final

Many of the twenty-five shortlisted contestants made it down to event, possibly due to the promise of a champagne breakfast, but more likely for the chance to meet the Prime Minister, Phil Hope (Minister for the Third Sector) and John Hutton (Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform), who all presented awards to the winners.

The Prime Minister made a speech in which he said: "We're trying to see how we can foster a new generation of activists and campaigners and entrepreneurs, even though some campaign against the Government itself.", which was greeted with laughter from the audience.

The Prime Minister congratulates the Savvy Chavvy team, who won the Community Award

Speeches were then followed by possibly the most productive networking session I have ever seen; this was meant to go on for two hours but the room was still heaving with a heady mix of technologically-gifted and socially-minded activists and entrepreneurs more than three hours later.

There was an overwhelming sense of optimism in the room on two fronts, firstly that these awards are a good thing, and secondly that they are going to go from strength to strength. I believe it too and am very proud to have been involved with the Catalyst awards!

BLOGGER: Henry De Rougemont

Blogging is set to receive the recognition it deserves with the news that Stephen Mitchelmore, Britain's first book blogger, has been invited to judge a new £50, 000 literary prize - The Warwick Prize for Writing. 

The prize, run by the University of Warwick,  is expected to redefine traditional forms of writing. It will be given biennially for an excellent and substantial piece of writing in the English language, in any genre or form. The theme will change with every prize: the 2009 theme is Complexity. Entries are expected to include all kinds of writing - from science theories and  graphic novels to electronic poetry and philosophical essays. 

All members of the University of Warwick Staff - from nursery staff and gardeners to professors and porters - are invited to make a nomination for a prize entry by August. Warwick's honorary professors and honorary graduates will also be asked to make nominations.  

China Miéville, award- winning writer of what he describes as ‘weird fiction', will chair the panel of five judges. Other judges joining Stephen Mitchelmore include mathematician Professor Ian Stewart and award winning Guardian journalist Maya Jaggi. A longlist of 15 to 20 titles will be announced in October 2008 followed by a shortlist of six titles in January 2009. The winner will be announced in February 2009 in Warwick.

The prize is already starting to cause a stir in the literary community, Erica Wagner, Literary Editory at the Times, has commented: "I love the sound of the this prize. I'll lay a bet that the longlist for this prize will be the most interesting we've seen for a long time - and I'll look forward to celebrating the winner".

Colman Getty will be working alongside the prize at every stage - so keep an eye on our website for upcoming news.

To find out more visit www.warwick.ac.uk/go/prizeforwriting

BLOGGER: Elise Oliver

Colman Getty has been caught up in a literary whirlwind during the last two weeks, working with Southbank Centre to publicise London Literature Festival 2008.

For lovers of books, writing and relaxation London Literature Festival was the ultimate summer destination, with the chance to meet top novelists like Rebecca Miller and the 2008 Caine Prize winner Henrietta Rose-Innes, hear poetry read by Wendy Cope, Lemn Sissay, Brian Patten and Patience Agbabi, or pick up one of the Best of the Booker book crossing novels left around Southbank Centre and sit down to read in one of the branded Festival deck chairs.  

The Festival hosted something for everybody over the two weeks, with appearances from novelists, poets, essayists, non-fiction writers as well as comedians, politicians, artists, actors and musicians. Highlights included the announcement of the winner of The Best of the Booker; the UK premiere of film For The Bible Tells Me So, followed by a discussion between Bishop Gene Robinson, the subject of the film, and Sir Ian McKellen; The Fall singer Mark E. Smith discussing his biography; Tony Benn and David Davis debating the meaning of democracy; Julian Clary talking about gay literature; and new writing from around the world, including Africa, Canada and Eastern Europe. 

...After more than forty events in fifteen days, the only thing we could do to recover was to put our feet up and relax with a good book! 

BLOGGER: Sarah Watson

Tuesday 10 June, 2008 - Thirteen original storycards written by world-class authors including J K Rowling, Sebastian Faulks, Doris Lessing and Nick Hornby were sold at the What's Your Story? charity auction at Waterstone's flagship store on Piccadilly . 

The auction raised a total of £47,150, with all proceeds going to the charities English PEN and Dyslexia Action.

The event, managed by Colman Getty, was attended by over 100 invited guests, including storycard authors Lauren Child, Axel Scheffler and Lisa Appignanesi. A particular highlight of the evening was Margaret Atwood joining the auction live from Paris to write her original storycard via her unique LongPen^TM machine, which allows her to sign books remotely using a touch sensitive pad and a computer link-up to guide a robotic arm.

White-gloved Colman Getty ladies were also on hand to show potential bidders the highly-collectible cards, including the lovely Chianna (pictured here with Rowling's much sought-after card).  

JK Rowling's story card at the Waterstone's charity auction. (c) Rex Features

An abundance of champagne cocktails were enjoyed by all, encouraging everyone to 'relax' and delve deep into their pockets once the bidding commenced!

The auction was taken by Sotheby's auctioneer Edward Rising and attracted enthusiastic bidding from both guests and absentee bidders. High bids from the evening included Tom Stoppard's card which sold for £4,000.00, and Doris Lessing's, which sold for £3,000.00.

Ed Rising Sotheby's auctioneer (c) Rex Features

The final and most eagerly anticipated lot of the evening was J K Rowling's story. The storycard reveals an 800 word prequel to the Harry Potter series, finishing with the handwritten words - "From the prequel I am not working on - but that was fun!" and JK Rowling's signature, dated May 2008.

After a frenzied bidding, J K Rowling's card was eventually bought for £25,000  by an absentee bidder from Tokyo. 

The full list of authors who donated to the What's Your Story? auction is: Lisa Appignanesi, Margaret Atwood, Lauren Child, Sebastian Faulks, Richard Ford, Neil Gaiman, Nick Hornby, Doris Lessing, Michael Rosen, JK Rowling,  Axel Scheffler, Tom Stoppard and Irvine Welsh.

Those who missed out on the auction need not despair  - as all storycards are now available to view online at www.waterstones.com/whatsyourstory

Blogger: Elise Oliver

Last week Colman Getty announced that The Lightbox gallery and museum, Woking, had won the UK’s largest arts prize, The Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries. The winning gallery fought its way on to a ten-strong long list in February and reached the four-strong short list in April: The Lightbox beat off stiff competition from the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, Bristol; Shetland Museum and Archives; and Wellcome Collection, London in the final stages. Chair of the Judges, broadcaster Sue MacGregor, said the winner was “truly irresistible”.

The Lightbox team celebrate their win

The announcement event and party, also organised by Colman Getty, welcomed high profile attendees from the arts world and arts organizations around the country, as well as some famous names including TV presenter David Attenborough and artist Grayson Perry. Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Andy Burnham also attended and made an inspiring speech.

Artist Grayson Perry enjoys the prize party

The party was a great opportunity for the winners to celebrate, and for the runners-up to be credited formally and publicly. The triumphant Lightbox received a £100,000 prize which it can now use to go from strength to strength, and prove to culture vultures everywhere that Woking has more to offer than they might expect!

BLOGGER: Sarah Watson