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Greetings from the lobby of the Burlington Hotel in Dublin. I'm here for the evening, along with some of my colleagues from Radio Ulster, for this year's PPI Radio Awards. These are the Irish equivalent of the UK Sony Awards, and this is the first year that broadcasters from Northern Ireland have been eligible for awards. for the specialist speech programme of the year category, and Radio Ulster has pulled off, in total, in this first year of entry. So, the dinner suit is in the trouser press (well, half of it is anyway) and I'm just about to abandon blogging for the day to enjoy a pre-ceremony drink with our team of nominees. Then it's on to the gala dinner and awards ceremony (hosted by ). It promises to be a fun evening. If we win, I'll let you know. If we don't, I'll never mention it again.

Update: It was a great night for Radio Ulster, with wins for McLean's Country and Stephen Nolan (many congratulations to both Ralph and Stephen). Alas, Sunday Sequence lost out to RTE's Mind Matters programme. Dara O'B was a superb host: he started with a terrific stand-up session and the tone was set for a great evening. The Irish radio awards are much more informal than the UK Sony Awards -- it felt like a group of old friends getting together (which is essentially what it was).