By Gwen O’Toole
The annual Exhibition and Event Association’s (EEAA) awards for excellence saw Diversified Exhibitions, North Port and Reed Exhibitions commended for their shows.
The gala dinner event, held in the Melbourne Docklands at Central Pier’s Atlantic, awarded exhibition excellence across all sectors of the Australian and New Zealand exhibition and event industry. Approximately 230 guests attended the evening with musical entertainment provided by Clifton Productions.
Many of the night’s most prestigious awards were grabbed by Diversified Exhibitions, with the Australian Fitness Expo winning Best Trade Show over 10,000-sq-m, and Best Australian Show and the Good Food and Wine Show taking out Best Consumer Show over 10,000 sq-m.
Reed Exhibitions also had reason to celebrate, taking the awards for the Sydney International Spa & Beauty Expo and Hair Expo. Reed Exhibition’s Alana Ross was awarded for all her hard work and dedication with the Richard Geddes’ Young Achiever of the Year Award.
Hair Expo a winner for Reed Exhibitions
Other winners on the night included North Port Events for The Food Show Auckland, Australian Exhibitions & Conferences (AEC) for the Design:MadeTrade Show and Van Den Berg Design Team for their custom stand for iSOFT.
“The standard this year was the highest we’ve ever seen. The finalist’s scores were extremely close, and most award categories were hotly contested. As this year has proven, the EEAA awards is fast becoming the exhibition and events industry’s ‘night of nights’,” said EEAA executive director, Alan Morly.
Winners receive a glass trophy and rights to promote themselves as winners in all marketing and collateral for the next three years.
Sponsors for the event included Octanorm Australia, Reed Exhibitions, Info Salons, Royal Exhibition Building, Diversified Exhibitions Australia, and Charter Security.
2008 EEAA Awards For Excellence Winners Included:
1. The Food Show Auckland, North Port Events — Best Consumer Show under 10,000-sq-m
2. Good Food and Wine Show Sydney, Diversified Exhibitions — Best Consumer Show over 10,000-sq-m
3. Sydney International Spa & Beauty Expo, Reed Exhibitions — Best Trade Show under 10,000-sq-m
4. Australian Fitness Expo Sydney, Diversified Exhibitions Australia — Best Trade Show over 10,000-sq-m
5. Design:Made:Trade Show, Australian Exhibitions & Conferences — Best New Show
6. iSOFT, Van Den Berg Design Team — Best Custom Stand
7. EMEX (Engineering, Machinery & Electronics Expo ) Auckland, dmg World Media — Most Innovative Promotional Campaign
8. Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre – Ecowise — Best Green Initiative
9. Hair Expo Sydney, Reed Exhibitions — Best Show Team
10. Rosehill Gardens Event Centre — Best Venue Team
11. Info Salons — Best Supplier Team
12. Alana Ross, Reed Exhibitions — Richard Geddes Young Achiever
13. The Food Show Auckland, North Port Events — Best New Zealand Show
14. Australian Fitness Expo Sydney, Diversified Exhibitions Australia — Best Australian Show
