We surpassed ourselves at our annual awards last night. Every year there is some typically Liberal Democrat random “feature” of the ceremony. Last night’s event was no exception.

It’s a very long story involving great preparation and, then, the intervention of fate in the shape of a locked hotel room, several mobile phones on voicemail, mad dashes around the conference complex, rolled up old newspapers and a large shopping bag.

Suffice it to say, the awards ceremony started ever-so-slightly late, but it was all smoothed over with some laughter and good conversation. The winners’ announcements started with no awards present. Then about 20% through the list, the awards arrived and the rest of the presentations were conducted against a backcloth of awards being unwrapped from said newspaper wrapping, amidst much rustling of the paper, with the shiny gold naked men being gradually sorted out to go with the correct envelopes. Phew! Robbie Burns would have enjoyed the “gang aft agley” element to all this.

But it was all done in the best possible taste. Soon the “Comedy of Errors” was forgotten and we were all laughing at Stephen Tall’s jokes about paisley pyjamas and ejaculations (of the grammatical sense, of course. A double entendre would never pass Mr Tall’s lips. Well, hardly ever. (Copyright: Gilbert & Sullivan)). And, by the way, those were two separate jokes. The paisley pyjamas were completely independent of the gramatical ejaculations.

Here are the results, with photos below each award result, where the recipients were present:

Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year

Jonathan Calder for ‘Liberal England’ – reached quota in the first round – 268 total ballots cast

Many congratulations to Jonathan!

Liberal Democrat Tweeter/Facebooker of the Year

Caron Lindsay (@caronmlindsay) – 2nd round – 345 ballots

Best use of social media by an elected representative (Tim Garden award)

Julian Huppert – 2nd round – 362 ballots

Best online campaign run by a Liberal Democrat

Hannah Thompson for ‘Ban Revenge Porn’ – 1st round – 314 ballots

Best online campaign of the year (non Lib Dem)

EverydaySexism.com – 1st round – 284 ballots

Liberal Democrat Councillor of the Year

Councillor Neil Fawcett – 8th round – 308 ballots

The Lib Dems’ Favourite Tory MP award

Ken Clarke – 3rd round – 456 ballots

The Lib Dems’ Favourite Labour MP award

Alan Johnson – 3rd round – 405 ballots

Best political commentator / journalist in UK

Andrew Rawnsley – 6th round – 365 ballots

Best political broadcaster working either in radio or TV

Jon Snow – 9th round – 437 ballots

Liberal Democrat Blog-post of the Year

Mark Pack – 2nd round – 314 ballots

Liberal Democrat MP of the Year

Julian Huppert – 49th round! – 466 ballots

Liberal Democrat Minister of the Year

Steve Webb – 16th round – 461 ballots

Best photo involving a Lib Dem

Nick Clegg stirring a vat of curry with a big spoon – 1st round – 348 ballots

* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.