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The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre has won the trifecta in the 2008 NSW Meeting Events Australia (MEA) Awards, collecting the top awards in three categories.

 The wins come as the Centre celebrates its 21st anniversary and underline its continuing leadership in the business events industry as well as its strong track record of innovation.

For the second consecutive year, the Centre won the category of “Meeting Venues - more than 500 delegates” with an entry that highlighted the venue’s exceptional business performance as well as its continuing success in delivering creativity and originality. 

The Centre also won the 2008 MEA Corporate Social Responsibility Award for its remarkable work across a range of areas, from its environmental program, Ecowise, to its continuing support of the annual Variety Kids Christmas Party.

Meanwhile, the Centre’s Audio Visual Services Manager, Paul Davison, has been recognised with the 2008 Operations Person of the Year Award for his outstanding performance. 

Mr Davison has worked at the Centre since 1995 and oversees its considerable in-house audio visual team of more than 100 full-time, part-time and contract employees as they work on more than 500 events a year.  His expertise and dedication means he has taken on key roles for many events, such as the high-profile 2008 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum where he was involved in an advisory capacity for three years leading up to the meeting.

Commenting on the wins, Centre Chief Executive Ton van Amerongen said he was delighted at the Centre’s performance.

 “Given New South Wales is Australia’s leading business events state, competition for these State awards is always strong, so we are very proud to have been successful across all three categories entered this year,” Mr van Amerongeon said.

“The Centre is constantly looking at the ways to advance our operations and set new benchmarks for the Australian events industry, whether it’s in our performance, our corporate programs or our nurturing of our team members, so we’re delighted to have our efforts recognised by our peers.”