Winners for the 2024 Australian Event Awards were announced at a ceremony packed with the best of the Australian events industry at Le Montage in Sydney.

The biggest winner of the evening was Canberra event company, Dionysus, who had a trophy rush in the second half of the night.

Their first win was for Lunar New Year Canberra, which picked up Best Small Event.

As the evening drew towards its close, Dionysus won Best Small Event Management Company and chased it up with a win in the headline categories, taking home the penultimate award, Event Management Company of the Year, beating out the other businesses which had won their management categories.

TDC – Technical Direction Company was another headline winner, taking home Supplier of the Year, after snapping up Production Company of the Year in the first half of the evening.

And Indigenous conference the AIATSIS Summit won Australian Event of the Year after triumphing in Best Congress or Conference for over 500 delegates. Event Awards judges praised the event for merging “business, opportunity and culture into a cohesive whole that precisely met the needs of your stakeholders and participants in an exceptionally impressive way”.

Other big winners of the night were Parrtjima – A Festival in Light 2024 and Artists in Motion, who each took home two categories.

The Alice Springs light festival Parrtjima, from the Northern Territory Major Events Company, won Best Tourism Event and Best Regional Event while Artists in Motion won Best Achievement in Design for their work on Dream Circus at Luna Park Sydney and Best Export for a variety of international projects.

The Northern Territory also took home the State or Territory Award which acknowledges the best performing Australian region based on nominees and winners across the best event categories.

In the best event categories, the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) won Best Exhibition or Trade Show for the third straight year, with the event going from strength to strength. Other winners included cycling event the Santos Tour Down Under, food festival The Curated Plate on the Sunshine Coast, the Now or Never festival in Melbourne, Vivid Sydney, the AWS Summit Sydney, startup festival Sunrise Australia and the Volvo Car Australia Retailer Business Conference and Awards of Excellence.

In the industry and achievement categories, winners included Perth Town Hall, Laissez-faire Catering, EVENTelec and Event Operations Group Australia.

In the management categories, Nectar Creative Communications took home PCO of the Year, Alive Events Agency won Corporate Event Management Company of the Year, and The Shift Corp took out Public Event Management Company of the Year.

With 91 outstanding nominees up for trophies at the Australian Event Awards this year, the co-chairs of the Event Awards judging panel said it was a challenging year for the industry leaders on the panel who determined the winners.

“This year was particularly tough to judge,” said judging panel co-chair 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 tonight, you may have been incredibly close. All nominees should be very proud of their work.”

“It’s great to see winners coming from right across the country – from coast to coast and central Australia too.”

Her fellow co-chair Peter Rix agreed.

 “Congratulations to all tonight’s winners,” said 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.”

“The spectrum of winners tonight across public events and business events and all the amazing suppliers who help organisers bring their visions to life is such a testament to the skill and creativity that exists within our industry here in Australia.”

Two Lifetime Achievement Awards were handed out during the evening, recognising exceptional contributions of longstanding members of the industry.

Lifetime Achievement Awards went to Arinex founder Roslyn McLeod and Brenda LaPorte, who has enjoyed a long career, mostly in major sporting events.

Full list of Nominees and Winners can be found on the Australian Event Awards website

Photography by EventPix