I was very young when… ‘the entire UN presented me with the Award for Journalism’. Unforgettable the day of the award-giving ceremony at the ESIEA (Union of Journalists in Athens Daily Newspapers), unforgettable the speech made by Theo Loir, then head of the Athens office, unforgettable my mother’s tears.

Thanasis Papandropoulos is the journalist, with capital J, intelligent, educated, informed on European issues from a to z, prolific and journalistically ready for battle at any given moment, who honoured me by choosing me for the K. Kalligas Award.

The best loved news presenter. "The public voted and the jury upheld the decision"... I am informed over the phone by Lola Daiafa, head of the Press and Public Relations Office at Star Channel where I was presenting the main news bulletin.

I was the object of so much mud-slinging and disdain from female co-travellers on the road to equality – not all, heaven forbid – that I regretted getting involved and not devoting more time to my daughter. Why am I blaming the award? No reason. Quite the contrary. I was presented with the award by an iron-willed lady, Aliki Giotopoulou Maragopoulou, for my journalistic involvement and promotion of women’s issues.

The most original award from every point of view that I ever received was the one I received from Rethymno. The hot-blooded Cretans probably felt my deep love for the island, my irresistible attraction for their land, their traditions, their hospitality, the love in their folk songs, their finger-licking food, raki, the only drink I down in one, like life….

I am bewitched at the Hamogelo tou Paidiou (Smile of the Child) by the children who smile when you visit their ‘homes’. The paterfamilias Kostas Giannopoulos, a major figure in voluntary work, has amazed me with his audacity to establish in the Greece of ‘Come on, it’s whatever lines your pockets’,  an organization to protect children, a completely above party person, likeable, superactive, always there for his ‘kids’. His son who passed away so prematurely must look down on him from above and be proud. Now that Greece is so gloomy, initiatives like the Hamogelo tou Paidiou stand out. I am there for them as much as I can be.