By Chris Tester - British Male Voiceover
Last night was the 5th One Voice Awards ceremony, which celebrates the best voiceover work of the previous year in over 30 categories. It was the climax to the One Voice Conference, a combination of online and in person workshops and talks some some of the industries leading lights.
🏆 I was nominated for two awards, my tenth and eleventh nominations over the last five years - including Best Male Voiceover for the fourth year in the row.
🤦♂️ Needless to say, I didn’t win. Otherwise I’d have started this post differently and I would likely have shared a more disshelved ‘after party’ pic instead.
My imposter syndrome was in full flight throughout last night.
You can pretend that recognition doesn’t matter to you for extended periods, but in those few seconds when your name is read out, you can’t help but wonder what if.
I don’t work for the recognition. I do it to run my business effectively, expand my network and live the life I want to live. But when you spend the majority of every day working on your own, it would be disingenuous to say that recognition doesn’t offer value to me.
I had to take myself in hand after the initial disappointment washed through my system. Resist wondering if it was all a mistake, whether I’ll ever be in this position again, whether my worth is any more or less by a marginal decision that didn’t go my way.
But what made that process easier was the network that I was surrounded by. Maybe because voice actors work alone, they tend to be a hugely supportive and empathetic group. There’s little overt competitiveness, and a genuine sense of willing each other on, supporting, advising and commiserating as appropriate.
It was a timely reminder that for me at least, I’m only in competition with myself. With who I was yesterday.
Have I improved?
Am I doing things better?
And perhaps most crucially, am I holding myself with that same kindness and generosity that I would hope to offer to others?
It’s easier said than done, but I’ve found the process much easier than I ever did in the acting world BECAUSE of that network. They bear you up. They share their struggles. And they encourage you to cut yourself some slack, dust yourself off, and celebrate that you’ve come so far in the first place.
That is the true benefit of my network to me. It saves me from the worst parts of myself that might have pushed me to self-destruct in the past. It literally keeps me ‘together’ when I run the risk of falling apart. So a huge thanks again to Hugh Edwards and the One Voice team for making this whole thing possible, and to all the fellow voice actors I’ve finally got to meet and chat to (despite my introverted tendencies). You’re all ace.
NB. I’m determined to win NEXT year, obviously!