The nominees cover the entire Australian events industry, from major public and sporting events and festivals to conferences, exhibitions and corporate and brand events, alongside the companies which run and supply them.
“This year’s national nominees showcase a diverse and strong industry that’s back in full swing right across Australia,” said Event Awards co-chair of judging, Peter Rix.
“It’s great to see such a wide variety of entrants, which shows the broad base of expertise and stakeholders that make up the events ecosystem – from PCOs to local councils, state governments, technical specialists, venues and corporate agencies.
“The breadth of the events up for awards this year also brings home the role events play in every other industry in Australia.”
Amongst the business events nominated are the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME), looking for its third win in as many years, the AWS Summit Sydney 2024, the Association of School Business Administrators National Conference 2023, REA Ready 2024, the Smokeball Spark Conference 2024, the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association Conference 2024, the Volvo Car Australia Retailer Business Conference and Awards of Excellence 2024 and the IGA Victoria State Conference 2024.
Public events up for a trophy include Vivid Sydney 2024, the second last ever Byron Bay Bluesfest, the Darwin International Laksa Festival 2023, Parrtjima – A Festival in Light 2024, the Santos Tour Down Under 2024, Joondalup Festival 2024, SXSW Sydney, Melbourne’s Now or Never 2023, the Gather Round AFL Footy Festival 2024 in Adelaide, Pako Festa 2024 in Geelong and the North Australian Festival of Arts 2023 in Townsville.
Every state and territory in Australia is represented amongst the best event nominees.
The considerable pool of company nominees includes ICMS Australasia, GEMS Event Management Australia, The Electric Canvas, Artists in Motion, Stagekings, The Association Specialists, Seeker Agency, Laissez-faire Catering, The Shift Corp, Alive Events Agency and Connected Event Group.
“The quality of events and event achievements being delivered in Australia impresses the judging panel every year,” said Rix’ fellow judging co-chair, Brenda LaPorte.
“As can be seen from the strength and profile of the 2024 nominees, to make it to this shortlist is a huge accomplishment in itself.”
Australian Event Awards winners will be announced on October 23 at Le Montage in Sydney. See the full list of nominees.
Event Awards organisers have also announced the majority of the Australian Event Symposium program, which will be delivered during the day on October 23 also at Le Montage.
Experts set to speak at the Symposium include industry legend Peter Jones, who will be discussing event design and unconventional event spaces, Craig Sheridan who will explore event risk in the current threat environment, CEO of The Perfect Events Group, Liliana Sanelli, on creating community events with strong engagement and James Lawrence from Rocket Agency who will discuss the latest in digital marketing.
There will also be two plenaries – an opening technology trends panel featuring Libbie Ray from Connected Event Group and Andrew Stone from Meshh, with Hailey Mason from The Shift Corp to moderate – and a closing plenary which is yet to be announced.
