Australian Event Awards – our time to shine

Local events, organisers and promoters will have their opportunity to shine at the Australian Event Awards, which will be held on the Sunshine Coast for the first time in September.

Sunshine Coast Council Tourism, Sport and Major Events Portfolio Councillor Jason OPray is encouraging the local event industry to nominate their events for the awards.

“The Australian Event Awards recognises the best events and achievements in the industry regardless of event size, audience, location or industry membership,” Cr OPray said.

“By entering these awards, our local industry will have the opportunity to showcase the amazing array of events we host in the region and also demonstrate our growing reputation as Australia’s leading regional events destination.

“Entries close on July 25, so we are encouraging our local event industry to get their entries together now.”

Sunshine Coast Events Board Chairman Ralph Devlin said it was a coup for the Sunshine Coast to welcome the awards to the region.

“Our region plays host to some exciting, diverse and highly regarded regional, national and international events in the cultural, sports and lifestyle arenas,” Mr Devlin said.

“The Sunshine Coast community has long been known Australia-wide for welcoming events to our region and we look forward to extending this welcome to a national industry audience.”

Following a number of highly competitive bids from capital cities and regional centres all around Australia, the Australian Event Awards will be held on the Sunshine Coast from 2016-2018.

It is the first time the event will be held outside of Sydney since its inception in 2009.

Visit Sunshine Coast acting CEO, Simon Latchford said he was thrilled that the event awards would be held on the Sunshine Coast.

“The beauty of the awards program is the number of categories to encompass big and small events of any type,” Mr Latchford said.

“We have been working with our members and many are taking advantage of entering the awards as they are held in our own backyard for the next three years.

“The Sunshine Coast is punching above its weight with our events schedule and we encourage our event industry to enter the awards and gain national recognition they deserve.”

Mark Forbes President of the Australian Outrigger Canoe Racing Association (AOCRA) said his organisation was encouraged to enter the Awards after the recent successful staging of the International Va’a World Outrigger Championships.

“This recent event was deemed to be the most successful world outrigging event ever staged,” Mr Forbes said.

“This is testament to our region’s ability to host world class events, and through our entry in the Australian Event Awards, we hope to further profile our sport and the Sunshine Coast events industry to a key national and international audience.

“The Sunshine Coast will also host the accompanying two-day Australian Event Symposium, which in 2016 will centre around ‘Inspiration, Operation and Communication’.”

The symposium will bring together the creative directors of some of Australia’s biggest events and festivals and will offer a variety of sessions exploring how to deliver the best creative events.

Local event promoters and organisers are also encouraged to attend these highly informative sessions.

For more information on the Australian Event Awards and to enter visit http://www.eventawards.com.au/