Last year I entered an award in the US organised by the US Greeting Card Association (GCA). I must admit I hadn’t heard of it before, but it looked right up my street, so I took a punt and entered.

Fast forward to January this year, when I discovered Pigeon was a finalist! In the very aptly-named category of Paper Engineering & Innovation.

I then found out that the awards ceremony (where the winners would be announced) was in San Francisco. And I just happen to have a cousin living in San Francisco… You can see where this is going!

So last week I took the 10-hour flight to California and slipped in at the back of the Louie Awards ceremony. As the evening progressed, I decided I better start filming in case Pigeon came up soon. So I got my phone ready and pressed ‘record’. Then my category came round, and I heard the words ‘and the winner is…’. As soon as they started saying ‘Pigeon’, I immediately stopped recording, as I was so flustered!

I couldn’t quite believe it! Pigeon had won!

As an engineer who loves origami and inventing, and who has worked with paper for 25 years, I really couldn’t be happier to be the holder of an award for Paper Engineering & Innovation.

Next month, I will find out if Pigeon has won another award… Watch this space!

John Morse-Brown
April 2024