Organisers of the Australian Event Awards and Symposium have signed a three-year deal with the City of Coffs Harbour that will see the destination host the pivotal gathering of the Australian events industry annually - in 2025, 2026 and 2027.

The regional city on the Mid North Coast of NSW is equidistant from Sydney and Brisbane and has direct flights from Australia’s four largest cities on the eastern seaboard – Sydney, Melbourne Brisbane and Canberra.

The partnership between Coffs Harbour and the Australian Event Awards and Symposium comes at a time when the destination is benefitting from new and upgraded accommodation and event spaces.

In addition, the recent Urbis Consultancy report, created on behalf of the State Government body Destination North Coast NSW, identifies sites in Coffs Harbour that have been selected as two of four suitable locations for a potential North Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The destination already hosts a vibrant year-round calendar of sporting and cultural events, festivals and conferences.

“We’re excited to be taking the Australian Event Awards and Symposium to a regional location,” said Ian Steigrad, managing director of the Event Awards and Symposium.

“It has always been important to us to take the awards and symposium to areas of Australia that can benefit from exposure to the wider events industry and from which the industry can also benefit.

“We were looking for a destination that can help us to grow the industry while simultaneously leveraging Australian events to benefit the destination. I think we've found a great fit here with Coffs Harbour."

Over the next three years, both the Australian Event Awards ceremony, attended by the best of the best in the Australian events industry, and the Australian Event Symposium, an opportunity for the entire industry to learn, network and collaborate, will be held in tandem in Coffs Harbour during October.

The venue and exact dates for 2025 will be announced in the new year.

“From internationally significant sports contests through to industry conferences we are a major regional player,’’ City of Coffs Harbour Mayor Nikki Williams said.

“And we are ambitious as we continue to leverage our infrastructure and natural advantages - including being NSW’s first ECO destination.”

Entries for the 2025 Australian Event Awards will open in April 2025. The program for the Australian Event Symposium will be developed through early 2025.

Since 2009, the Australian Event Awards have recognised and celebrated the best events and achievements across the full scope of the Australian events industry – from conferences, exhibitions and corporate events to major community, sporting, regional, arts, music and cultural events. Winning events in 2024 included Parrtjima – A Festival in Light, Vivid Sydney, the Santos Tour Down Under, the AIATSIS Summit and start-up awards festival Sunrise Australia. Companies taking home trophies included Dionysus, TDC, Nectar Creative Communications and Artists in Motion.

In 2024, the Australian Event Symposium included practical sessions on event risk, digital marketing and event design alongside a plenary panel on technology and a frank discussion between two Australian Olympic organising greats – former CEO of the organising committee for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Sandy Hollway AO, and current CEO of the Australian Olympic Committee, Matt Carroll AM.

The partnership between the City of Coffs Harbour and the Australian Event Awards and Symposium is supported proudly by Destination NSW.