Zesty Events Named a Finalist in Five Categories at the 2026 Australian Event Awards
Five Award Nominations. One Very Proud Team.
Zesty Events named a finalist across five categories at the 2026 Australian Event Awards.
Zesty Events is officially a finalist in five categories at this year's Australian Event Awards. Five. I've read that sentence back a few times and it still doesn't quite feel real.
For context, this comes hot on the heels of being named one of Australia's top five in the Best Event Management category in Spice Magazine's 2026 Hot 100, so it's been a genuinely surreal few weeks for a boutique agency that's still very much hands-on.
Five Australian Event Awards nominations
Here's where the nominations landed:
Small Event Agency of the Year, National Nominee, for Zesty Events as a whole.
Watch the Small Event Agency of the Year submission: YouTube video
Best New Event, National Nominee, and Best Small Event, National Nominee, both for Florey After Dark, the event we produced with The Florey Institute of Neuroscience.
Watch the Best New Event submission: YouTube video
Watch the Best Small Event submission: YouTube video
Best Corporate Event, State Nominee, for ADP Consulting's "Foundations & Future".
Watch the Best Corporate Event submission: YouTube video
Best Charity Event, State Nominee, for the Property Unites Charity Luncheon.
Watch the Property Unites Charity Luncheon: YouTube video
What strikes me about that list isn't any one category, it's the spread. A corporate brand moment, a charity luncheon, a cultural event built around neuroscience and commissioned art, and the agency itself, all recognised in the same round. That's not one great night, that's a solid number of very different projects all being built to the same standard.
What goes into an award-worthy event
People outside events tend to see the finished floor plan and the photos. What they don't see is what actually goes into getting there: the spreadsheets, the supplier calls at odd hours, the site visits, the pivots you make three days out when something falls through and nobody in the room can tell.
That's the part these nominations are really recognising, and it's the part that rarely gets a mention anywhere.
As the founder, I still run a lot of Zesty myself, from the first sales conversation through to bump-out. So five nominations lands differently than one would. It's not a single event carrying the whole story, it's proof that the standard holds across a corporate event, a charity event, and a first-time cultural experience, all built by a dedicated specialist team.
None of these projects happen alone. Thank you to ADP Consulting, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience, and everyone behind the Property Unites Charity Luncheon for trusting Zesty with events that mattered to them. And thank you to the suppliers, venues, and crews who turn up and make genuinely complicated days look simple.
I'm proud, I'm grateful, and I'll admit I've been walking around with a slightly bigger head than usual this week.
If you're planning a corporate, charity, or experiential event in Australia and want a boutique agency that treats every project like it's the one that counts, I'd love to hear from you.