On Sunday 20th January, during Belgium's Leather Pride, BLUF won the X Award for "Fetish Organisation 2013"

This is the first time that the X Awards have been held, and we were nominated in our category against stiff competition from LC Roma, Berlin Leder & Fetish, and ECMC, with the results decided by a public vote.

Speaking personally, this caps a great twelve months for BLUF, in which we turned fifteen years old, and saw our membership pass the 3000 mark.

Over the last few years, BLUF has, I feel, been rejuvenated, and become a much more active club; 2012 saw almost 70 BLUF events organised around the world, and our birthday celebration in Amsterdam last November was so busy that at one stage, no more people could be let into the bar.

The last year also saw the opening up of our BLUF Calendar to everyone online, rather than just members, and the creation of an automated calendar feed on Twitter - something I hope we can build on to provide a useful service to the whole leather community, not just BLUF members.

We've also launched our first apps, and we have much more planned. None of this would have been possible without the help of many volunteers.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of the leather community, and it's important to remember that there's a lot more going on than just the big commercial events. So, even though they didn't win, please join me in saying thank you too to all those who volunteer for the other nominated organisations, as well as our own team at BLUF.

Nigel.

(Thanks to Przemek for the photos of the awards ceremony, below)