Our magazine team enjoyed a treat this week – and a respite from a deluge of pre-Christmas deadlines – kicking off the festive season by attending the Content Marketing Association Awards in Camden, London.
It’s certainly not often we find ourselves dressed up to the nines and sipping free prosecco, but we had been shortlisted for the ‘Best Membership Award.
Many of us scrambled together new outfits for the occasion, and we were all pretty excited as we converged on London for a decidedly glamorous Tuesday evening.
Given the stiff competition from a long list of large, international brands (including airlines and supermarkets), we were delighted to be awarded a Bronze award for Best Membership product - meaning that we are delivering a good-quality and engaging suite of magazines for our lovely members.
Pass it on... we're all very happy with our award!
Naturally, we celebrated in style - but it was heads down and noses back to the grindstone the next day, as we finish the next issue of Nature’s Home – which involves a flurry of detailed fact-checking, proofreading, tweaking sentences, making sure contributors are happy, spreadsheets, swapping photos around, more spreadsheets, and checking off the ads.
This week I’ve been in touch a lot with Dave Sexton at RSPB Mull in the Hebrides, on a feature about white-tailed eagles, and it’s been fascinating to hear the tragic story of these birds – the last UK white-tail was shot in 1918, rendering the species extinct. But following a reintroduction program involving birds from Norway, just an island-hop across the North Sea, they have returned to their rightful place along Scotland’s lonely coasts. I hope you enjoy reading about it as much as I have enjoyed learning about this wow-factor raptor (hey, that rhymes!)
I've enjoyed working on the white-tailed eagle feature for the next issue of Nature's Home. I'd love to see one in the flesh! Have you? (Photo: Chris Gomershall, rspb-images.com)
You may also notice a few design tweaks in your next issue which I hope serve to make our award-winning magazine even more welcoming to our wide range of readers.
Lastly, it’s the 1st of December today, and that means… advent calendar time!
The RSPB’s wildlife gardening expert Adrian Thomas and myself have each put together 12 things to do before Christmas - that’s one per day until Christmas Eve - to help you make the most of our amazing nature over the festive season. Enjoy!