Congratulations to the 32 national winners announced at last week’s Australian Event Awards ceremony at Le Montage in Sydney.
It was a big night, capping off a big year of impressive nominees.
Our judging panel co-chairs sum it up well:
“This year was particularly tough to judge,” says Brenda LaPorte.
“We had several categories that really and truly came down to the wire and took us some time to agree on who would win. So, when we say it’s an achievement just to make it to national nominee status, we really mean it. And even if you didn’t leave with a trophy, you may have been incredibly close. All nominees should be very proud of their work.”
“Congratulations to all 2024 winners,” says Peter Rix.
“Competition was tough, the work entered was pretty incredible across all the nominees and you should be proud to be going home with a trophy.”
In the best event categories, Parrtjima - A Festival in Light was the biggest winner of the night, taking home Best Tourism Event and Best Regional Event.
And a special nod to AIME, which has taken out the Best Exhibition or Trade Show category for the third straight year, with that event going from strength to strength.
Winners were widely spread across the best event categories, from Vivid Sydney's win as Best Cultural, Arts or Music Event to the Rio Tinto Christmas Lights Trail win for Best Community Event, Now or Never's win in Best New Event, The Curated Plate's win as Best Small Regional Event and the Lunar New Year Canberra win in Best Small Event. The Santos Tour Down Under and the Legacy Centenary Torch Relay 2023 were also winners.
In the business events categories, AWS Summit Sydney won Best Brand Event while startup festival Sunrise Australia won Navarra Best Corporate Event. On the conference front, Volvo Car Australia Retailer Business Conference and Awards of Excellence won Best Congress or Conference under 500 delegates, while the AIATSIS Summit took home Best Congress or Conference over 500 delegates.
Artists in Motion was the big winner in the industry and achievement categories, taking home two trophies, for Best Achievement in Design and Best Export.
Congratulations also go to Perth Town Hall who won Venue of the Year, Laissez-faire Catering who triumphed as Caterer of the Year and En Pointe Events who was named Theming, Branding or Styling Company of the Year. Meanwhile TDC - Technical Direction Company won Production Company of the Year, Event Operations Group Australia took home Service Company of the Year and EVENTelec won Hire Company of the Year.
In the Event Management categories, Nectar Creative Communications won PCO of the Year and Alive Events Agency won Corporate Event Management Company of the Year. The Shift Corp took out Public Event Management Company of the Year and Small Event Company of the Year went to Dionysus, who also had a win in the best event categories.
See ResultsAnd in the end-of-the-night, best-of winners, TDC won Supplier of the Year, Dionysus won Management Company of the Year, the Northern Territory triumphed in the State or Territory Award and in a huge achievement, the AIATSIS Summit won Australian Event of the Year.
We also celebrated the contributions of two industry legends with Lifetime Achievement Awards. These went to Arinex founder Roslyn McLeod and Event Awards judging panel co-chair Brenda LaPorte.