The G Awards of 2014 part 1

Since 2008 we have been running an annual award show. A fun and different way of reviewing the year gone locally, nationally and internationally honouring the great, good and the gaffes of the past year. We call it The Gs and it will be broadcast on the Old Skool Cruising show on Monday, January 12 between 4pm and 7pm on Ujima 98FM and www.ujimaradio.com.

MEN OF THE YEAR: Stephen Sotloff and Alan Henning
One man an independent journalist, another a Salford taxi-driver who went to Syria to report and give humanitarian aid respectively. Both murdered by fanatics claiming to be Muslims and ISIS members. Brave men who in death give strength to human dignity and remind us of life outside of Bristol and Britain is a complex dangerous place.

Honourable mentions
Alex Salmond and Gordon Brown campaigned passionately on the Scottish Referendum. Who says politics is dead we just need a rallying call to care, so please vote in 2015 even if you spoil your paper. Too many people have died to give us the privlidge. Dr Dre from Compton rapper to Apple billion-dollar headphone deal. Beat that! Martin Freeman delivered three top-notch performances as Dr Watson to Sherlock, Bilbo Baggins in the third Hobbit and most impressively Lester Nygaard in the excellent TV remake of Fargo. If I didn’t mention Nigel Farage I wouldn’t be doing my job properly. First two UKIP MP’s in parliament, a good showing in local elections and now media darling. Even if I whole heartedly disagree with his anti-European and anti-immigration viewpoints he has shifted the political agenda onto his turf. And that is a battleground that Cameron, Clegg or Milaband will never win on.

EVENT OF THE YEAR: World War One Memorial Services
Though the Scottish Referendum will have ramifications for national and local politics for years to come the World War One memorial services showed we really did care for the brave men and women who have given their lives for King, Queen or Prime Minister from Britain and the Commonwealth. The Poppy war memorial at the Tower of London with its 888,246 poppies was simply breathtaking in its stunning artistic simplicity.

Honourable mentions
Remember too the personal devastation the floods caused to people of Gloucestershire and Somerset. The Tour de France in Yorkshire pictures kept football off the back page for a while and same sex marriage was made legal in March. In science filed under strange but true was the man Darek Fidyka who walked again after having cells from his nose transported into his spine.

COMMUNITY EVENT OF THE YEAR: 12 Years a Slave at the Watershed
A heartfelt and groundbreaking way to show that art can tell real stories. It brought together film, debate, passion, and a lot of tears with the subject of slavery in Bristol its backdrop.

Honourable mentions
Last year’s winner Bristol Bus Boycott 50 continued their good work with a plaque unveiling at Bristol Bus Station and Paul Stephenson gained a doctorate from the University of Bristol. Creditable mentions to a varied and educational Black History Month in October even without funding. Singer and self-confessed diva Kizzy Morell revamped the Regional Music Youth Awards (RMYAs) at the Spiegeltent in December. Her Studio Seven project for young singing talent and RYMAs enterprise shows Bristol can do ghetto fabulous.  

SPORTS PERSON OF THE YEAR: Claudia Fragapane
Yes, I’m biased. My son went to Bristol Hawks Gymnastic Club. Not only four Commonwealth Golds in Glasgow but bravery for her speech at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year which clearly terrified her. We need more of those Bristol vowels on national television please.

Honourable mentions
Rory McIlroy will not have a better year and Lewis Hamilton‘s driving duels were superb but he has massive assistance from Mercedes Benz. Over the bridge, Cardiff lad, ex-Spur and still the world’s most expensive player Gareth Bale scored in three cup finals and won four medals with Real Madrid. Dreams do come true.

VILLAIN OF THE YEAR: American police forces
Which part of “I can’t breathe” or “I’m putting my hands up don’t shoot me” can  they not understand? The police forces in New York and Ferguson, Missouri, even when captured on film, seemed to continue a long held tradition of attacking black people with impunity and walking free. At least back in the UK, Avon & Somerset commissioned a film into the use of stop and search made by young black talented Bristol filmmaker Michael Jenkins. Look out for more of him in 2015.

Honourable mentions
A competitive category this one. Runners-up were Oscar Pistorius and Luis ‘Vampire’ Suarez and also Russian premier Vladimir Putin for delaying action in Syria, invading Ukraine plus those anti-gay comments ahead of the Winter Olympics fueling appalling atrocities against the LGBT community in the country. Dishonorable mention here for Emily Thornberry’s tweets but sacking her? Really?

TELEVISION PROGRAMME: True Detective
With Oscar winner Mathew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, True Detective  was small screen television of the highest big screen quality.

Honourable mentions
The UK hit back two excellent police dramas in Channel’s 4’s satirical biting and eerily prescient Babylon. However, BBC2’s controversial physiological The Fall was gripping, watch-with-the-lights-on TV. Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan were superb. It was set in Belfast where I had a few visits last year and just being on the same streets where Dornan prowled gave me creeps and I’m a bloke. 

RECORDS OF THE YEAR: Happy by Pharell Williams
I’m an old skool soul and RnB man so although Happy was released in 2013 it still dominated 2014 airwaves from Ujima Radio to spoof YouTube videos. So someone please explain to me how it missed out on the best record Oscar to Frozen?

Honourable mentions
Drunk in Love by Beyonce ably assisted by him indoors Jay-Z became an urban classic showcasing her latent street edge. Hearing the beat of Loyal by Chris Brown being played everywhere in the clubs and out of cars when I was in Rio de Janeiro during the World Cup means you have a truly international global hit. Domestically, Dizzee Rascal and Fekky kept grime in the game with Still Sitting Here.

LEST WE FORGET
Children that were killed or kidnapped in atrocities, the many that died from Ebola and those who lost their lives in Asian airplanes that crashed, disappeared or where blown out of the sky. Lastly, my friend mentor and still inspiration Batook Pandya of Sari (Stand Against Racism and Inequality). Missed but far from forgotten and his legacy will take the form of a Bristol racial equality manifesto due in March 2015 called Batook’s Blueprint.