Among the winners of the UK 2020 OSPAs was Roy Cooper, MD of Professional Security Magazine, who picked up the lifetime achievement award.
Comments from the judges were put up on the big screen at the Outstanding Security Performance Awards, at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London W2 last night, hailing Roy as an industry stalwart and for his contributions to the wider industry. The magazine’s Security TWENTY (ST) exhibition-conference series has raised tens of thousands of pounds for charities, at pre-event dinners, since they began in 2013.
Away from the day job he has also done responsible and voluntary community work. He’s also done fund-raising over the years for the 0800 crime reporting line charity Crimestoppers, and the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals (WCoSP), besides less newsworthy but innumerable pieces of networking by connecting people with job vacancies and connecting people generally.
His security lifetime began in the 1970s when he started with Chubb from school; from alarm installing he went onto the sales side, at such now past names as Modern Alarms. Besides the day to day running of the monthly print, and online, magazine, he ventured the magazine into the conference-event service sector by setting up ST in 2013, which has gone from strength to strength, connecting people, now running in six cities across the British Isles each calendar year, February to November.
The OSPAs awards compere at the black-tie event was Paul ‘Sinnerman’ Sinha of ITV’s The Chase. When on stage to receive the award, Roy joked that he didn’t think he was old enough for the award, and said simply that he was touched, and honoured, and feeling emotional. Back at work today, he was still taking in the award. He thanked Nick Johnson for nominating him, the judging panel, and all the many well-wishers for messages. He said: “I realise now that actually it means an awful lot to me. I am very touched – I didn’t know I was going to win it.”
For the full list of the night’s winners, and for judges’ comments on Roy, visit https://uk.theospas.com/winners-of-the-2020-uk-ospas/.
Picture of Roy back at his table on receiving the award; photo by Di Thomas.
About the OSPAs
The awards set up by Prof Martin Gill of consultancy Perpetuity Research run around the world – in Australia, Benelux, Germany, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Norway, Romania, the UK and the United States. Visit https://theospas.com/.
