MEA Announces the 2020 MEA State & National Award Winners

Meetings & Events Australia is pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 MEA State & Territory and National Awards at the 2020 MEA Awards Night held at Scene Change Studios last night.

Reflecting on a particularly challenging year, these Awards recognise the innovation and exceptional work done by organisations and individuals in the events sector throughout 2020. This was the second time that the state and national awards were concurrently presented and the second year the ceremony was broadcast to a virtual audience across Australia.

Peter McDonald, MEA CEO, celebrated all finalists who were up for an award, “I’d like to acknowledge the effort made by anyone who contributed a submission for consideration, to congratulate those who became worthy finalists, and to celebrate those deemed to ultimately be category winners. They’ve been determined to be the best of the best by their peers. They’ve established new benchmarks for the industry to emulate. Well done.”

Chair of Judges, Ian Stuart, commented, “The greatest impact on the business events sector in the past 18 months has of course been COVID.

“The whole industry has faced cancellations, confusion and concern about when it will all end. But, resourceful as ever, our sector has responded creatively and with optimism. We’ve learned how to replace and to complement the traditional face to face experience by including hybrid and virtual alternatives. We’ve worked out how to keep our audiences’ attention, how to engage with them and the event's stakeholders. There is great evidence of this in the 2020 MEA National Awards.”

Destination NSW, EventsAIR, ICC Sydney, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Touchpoint and Ungerboeck partnered with MEA to confer these awards, and we thank them very much. A special thank you to the Scene Change Sydney team who stepped up and answered our call for help when the event was forced virtual. MEA is always grateful to all our sponsors and urges the sector to support those that support it. Without the generous assistance of all these organisations, MEA’s capacity to deliver its programs – including our awards – is very diminished.

Further thanks to our PCO Janette Beedell and the TPM team and our MC, Nigel Collin, for making the event possible.

MEA congratulates all winners of the 2020 MEA National Awards, as well as all State and Territory winners. Kate Smith of WALDRONSMITH Management was awarded the 2020 Outstanding Contribution Award for her contribution and dedication to the sector. Kate has been an enormous support and mentor for the industry, including as immediate past Chair of MEA, all while dealing with the same challenges COVID presented her own business. MEA heartily congratulates Kate on her recognition.

The 2020 Celebration of Excellence publication will be made available on the MEA website shortly and features all winners’ names and their achievement stories. And if you missed the live streamed Awards Night, a recording will be made available on MEA TV in the coming days. 

VIEW THE STATE & NATIONAL AWARD WINNER LIST HERE