The winners of the 2011 Meetings & Incentive Travel Awards were announced last night (Monday) at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, London.
Zibrant’s managing director, Fay Sharpe, was named M&IT Personality of the Year; recognised for her charitable work including completing the Three Peaks Challenge and house building with Barclays in South Africa.
Birmingham Airport won the Access Excellence award; praised for the impressive investment it had made in facilities for the disabled.
The ceremony was hosted by popular BBC news presenter Kate Silverton, who was joined by fellow newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky, who spoke on behalf of Save the Children. To date the M&IT Awards have raised more than £800,000 for the charity, including in excess of £53,000 in 2011, raised through an online auction and a raffle on the night. The target for this year’s fund-raising was £40,000 to purchase 20,000 treated mosquito nets for distribution in Tanzania to prevent death among mothers and children in three districts.
More than 1,900 organisations were nominated for the 2011 M&IT Awards, with more than 8,300 votes cast, but not all could be winners. The results were as follows (see the 'Gallery' tab above for photos from the night):
Best UK Hotel
Gold: The Celtic Manor Resort
Silver: The Gleneagles Hotel
Bronze: Chewton Glen
Finalist: The Grove
Best Overseas Hotel
Gold: Fairmont, Monte Carlo
Silver: The Ritz-Carlton Powerscourt
Bronze: Hotel Arts Barcelona
Finalist: Gran Melia Palacio de Isora, Tenerife
Best UK Conference Centre
Gold: Burleigh Court
Silver: Williams F1 Conference Centre
Bronze: Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre (SECC), Glasgow
Finalist: Harrogate International Centre
Best UK Management Training Centre
Gold: The Møller Centre
Silver: Scarman, Warwick Conferences
Bronze: Conference Aston
Finalist: Highgate House, A Sundial Venue
Best Overseas Conference Centre
Gold: Grimaldi Forum Monaco
Silver: The Convention Centre Dublin
Bronze: Bella Center, Copenhagen
Finalist: Las Vegas Convention Center
Best Venue Group Meeting Product
Gold: Sundial Group
Silver: Marriott Hotels International
Bronze: Hilton Hotels
Finalist: Barceló Hotels & Resorts
Best Intermediary Agency (fewer than 40 employees)
Gold: Principal Promotions
Silver: YES (Your Event Solutions)
Bronze: Technovation (CPM)
Finalist: Absolute Corporate Events
Best Intermediary Agency (more than 40 employees)
Gold: Venues Event Management
Silver: Banks Sadler
Bronze: Zibrant
Finalist: P&MM
Best Destination Management Company
Gold: Vista Events
Silver: TLC Events in Portugal
Bronze: Cititravel DMC Spain & Portugal
Finalist: Allied Europe
Best UK-based Airline
Gold: British Airways
Silver: Virgin Atlantic
Bronze: easyJet
Finalist: Bmi, British Midland International
Best Overseas Based Airline
Gold: Emirates
Silver: Singapore Airlines
Bronze: Qantas
Finalist: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Best Academic Venue
Gold: The Conference Park, Warwick Conferences
Silver: Conference Aston
Bronze: Burleigh Court
Finalist: Keele University
Best UK Convention Bureau
Gold: Glasgow City Marketing Bureau
Silver: Conference Leeds
Bronze: Sheffield Convention Bureau (previously Yorkshire South Tourism)
Finalist: The Staffordshire Stoke on Trent Conference Bureau
Best Overseas Convention Bureau
Gold: The Monaco Tourist Authority
Silver: Vienna Convention Bureau
Bronze: Hong Kong Tourism Board
Finalist: BarcelonaTurisme Convention Bureau
Finalist: Rotterdam Marketing
Best UK Unusual Venue
Gold: Altitude 360 London
Silver: The Monastery Manchester
Bronze: Alton Towers Resort
Finalist: Natural History Museum
Best Event Provider
Gold: Yarrington
Silver: Saville Audio Visual
Bronze: Trigger Concepts
Finalist: Sound & Vision
Best Value for Money Conference Venue
Gold: Scarman, Warwick Conferences
Silver: Leicester Conferences, University of Leicester
Bronze: Keele University
Finalist: Highgate House, A Sundial Venue
Best Food and Beverage Supplier
Gold: Kudos Silver: Leith’s
Bronze: Heathcotes Outside
Finalist: Create Food and Party Design
Best Conference and Banqueting Staff
Gold: The Conference Park, Warwick Conferences
Silver: Burleigh Court
Bronze: Conference Aston
Finalist: Keele University
Sponsors of the event included the Spanish Tourist Office, Jersey Conference Bureau, Air Malta, BI, Davies Tanner, drpgroup, EIBTM, Emeco Travel Egypt, Event Assured, Grimaldi Forum Monaco, Hever Castle, MCI (UK), Kudos Hospitality, Novotel London West, P&MM, The Ice Box, venuedirectory.com, WorldEvents, Xerox UK & Europe and Zibrant.
Pictured (L-R): Hamish Reid, GM of Jersey Conference Bureau presents the M&IT Personality of the Year to Zibrant’s Fay Sharpe, alongside M&IT managing editor Martin Lewis
