I am humbled by Best of Bermuda award

Working in the media, I get tons of inside tips or people willing to snitch on politicians.  So when I received an e-mail from my confidential source that read, “Congrats on winning the Bermudian Magazine best columnist for 2014”, I was a bit floored. Needless to say, it was a tad different than the messages I typically receive. 

Shiver me timbers — I never even knew I was nominated!

So let me start by saying thank you to the judges who selected me, and thank you to my fellow regular columnists including: Larry Burchall, Elaine Murray, Eron Hill, Jeremy Deacon, Jonathan Starling — and yes, even Bryant Trew.

Many Doors, Many Stories

My journey as a columnist started two years ago with one simple e-mail from Tony McWilliam, the editor of Bermuda Sun. He stated that this journey would open many doors for me. I never  realized how many doors and whose doors open.

Part of this journey has been learning to listen to the life stories of others in Bermuda:

• I have met persons who previously may never have interacted with me;

• I have met persons who did not want to share their story with anyone else but me;

• I have met persons who felt no one wanted to hear their story or no one take their story seriously;

• Heck, I have even met persons who refused to give me a story.

The common thread here is that I have met hundreds of persons because of this column. Each week, one of their stories has become my story.  You see, in order to properly project these stories, one must inject themselves with these stories.

Mentors

• Larry Burchall has taught me that we must always research the numbers;

• John Barritt has taught me transparency must be upheld;

• John Holdipp III has taught me we must stand up for ourselves as Bermudians;

• Eron Hill has taught me ,the youth are listening, watching and learning from our every word;

• Tony McWilliam and Don Burgess have taught me the importance of using ‘Spellcheck’ before submitting one’s column to the Bermuda Sun.

So you see, this award does not belong solely to Chris Famous. This award belongs to the following people:

• The working class people of Bermuda who want to know how to make ends meet;

• The economists who want Bermudians to understand what our economy needs;

• The editorial and printing staff of the Bermuda Sun;

• The Portuguese people who deserve their story to be told in their language; 

• The OBA supporters who voted for transparency, and are finally starting to demand it; 

• The PLP supporters who need to know my generation will not let them down;  

• The young people of Bermuda who deserve more knowledge of what is really going on in their country;

• The real journalists who are not afraid to do research, and to tell the whole truth.

This award especially belongs to those readers and friends who, before they passed on, always encouraged me to stick to the wicket.  They include:

Tammell Simons, Pat Ferguson, Mike Dudden and Nathan Richardson.

This award belongs to you all, because it is your stories that I write weekly. Thank you for sharing your stories with Bermuda.

I love you all.

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