An Industry in Celebration Mode – The 2026 NZEA New Zealand Event Awards

There was a lot to celebrate at the 2026 NZEA New Zealand Event Awards.

480 event professionals packed into the new NZICC for the Gala Dinner on 5 August, following two days at NZEA’s Eventing the Future conference that had drawn 250 delegates. The mood throughout the conference had been noticeably upbeat: plenty of frank discussion about costs, regulation, resilience and workforce pressures, but also a sense that the events industry was being listened to and its economic and social contribution increasingly acknowledged.

By the Wednesday evening, conversation gave way to celebration. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown opened the evening in good spirits before the room settled in for the night ahead. Around him were event organisers, venue teams, suppliers, council representatives and production professionals from across the motu, with some regions particularly determined to make their presence heard.

Hamilton Kirikiriroa was one of them. After hosting the awards itself last year, the city arrived in Auckland with plenty to cheer. Jim Beam Homegrown won Marketing/Creative of the Year, while Claudelands Events Centre was named Venue of the Year for its delivery of the festival with H3 Group.

Homegrown’s relocation from Wellington to Hamilton for 2026 had already proved a substantial result for the city. More than 25,000 people attended its Claudelands debut, with independent analysis by Fresh Info estimating the festival generated almost $10 million for the local economy. Some 17,885 attendees came from outside Hamilton, generating 24,648 visitor nights and $4.8 million in spending across accommodation, hospitality, retail and transport. Hamilton leaving with two wins felt like a fair reflection of the city’s growing events credentials.

Tauranga Moana also made some noise with Bay Oval getting a special mention alongside Claudelands for Venue of the Year, with only a fraction of a point separating the two venues. The cricket ground had hosted an unforgettable run of events including the FISHER concert, a Super Rugby Pacific clash and international cricket. Its first concert, FISHER, produced by Trademark Live, was also a finalist for Music Event of the Year.

Taupō had its moment in the spotlight with Treats of Taupō  named Food, Beverage or Lifestyle Event of the Year and New Zealand Junior Rugby Festival – Global Games scoring an impressive double win, taking out both Sports Event of the Year and Sustainable Event Initiative of the Year. Collaborating with Without Waste to achieve a zero-waste event, the announcement was accompanied by impressed murmurs across the room.

Across the awards themselves, the winners demonstrated just how broad the New Zealand events sector has become. Laneway Festival took Music Event of the Year, ASB Classic won Major or Mega Event of the Year, and Kia Mau Festival secured Arts, Cultural or Heritage Event of the Year. The biennial Wellington-based festival is dedicated to contemporary Tāngata Whenua, Tāngata Moana and Indigenous arts, with its 2025 programme spanning theatre, dance, music and interdisciplinary performance. Running over two weeks, Kia Mau provided a platform for Indigenous artists and stories from Aotearoa and beyond, bringing together work ranging from intimate theatre through to large-scale music and performance.

Other winners included TSB Festival of Lights for Local Government Event of the Year andAdaptation Futures 2025, delivered by the University of Canterbury with ChristchurchNZ and The Conference Company, for Business Event of the Year. Community or Not-for-Profit Event of the Year (under $3000) went to the Special Olympics 2025 National Summer Games, and there was not a dry eye in the house after the athletes’ rapturous acceptance speeches. The over $3000 award went to the team of volunteers who delivered the Crankworx New Zealand 2026 mountain biking event, overcoming a number of challenges courtesy of the weather gods. Medical Response Industries was named Supplier of the Year for its work on the Ed Sheeran Loop Tour and Warbirds Over Wanaka won the public vote as New Zealand’s Favourite Event for the third time.

The biggest applause of the evening was reserved for people. Terri van Schooten, founder of Wellington event and experience strategy agency Verve and a former NZEA chair, and Brent Eccles, the former Angels drummer turned concert promoter behind Eccles Entertainment, were jointly recognised for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry, acknowledging decades of work across the sector. Elly Moody, H3 Group’s head of impact events, was named Established Industry Professional of the Year for her leadership across the venue’s sporting, cultural and community events programme, accompanied by more cheering from the Hamilton contingency. Libby Vincent of Christchurch agency Brown Bread took Emerging Event Professional of the Year, for her work on complex events such as Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards and The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi.

Two winners, unable to be separated, were also named in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Event of the Year category: Music Portrait of a Humble Disabled Samoan, a collaboration between Music Portrait Collective, PANNZ, Auckland Arts Festival and Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts; and WIPCE 2025, the World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Education hosted by Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau (AUT).

That category also provided one of the more important reflections to come out of the week. NZEA subsequently acknowledged that its own accessibility arrangements at the Gala Dinner had fallen short, saying it was taking the learnings seriously and intended both to improve future events and share those learnings with the wider industry.

It was an acknowledgement entirely consistent with the bigger message of the awards, and the Eventing the Future conference: excellence does not mean pretending everything is perfect. It means recognising what works, learning from what doesn’t, and pushing the standard higher next time.

Most importantly, after several difficult years for events, the prevailing mood at the NZEA Awards night was not simply relief at still being here, it felt much more like confidence about what comes next.