John Harnden to receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Australian Event Awards

The Australian Event Awards recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award is John Harnden, Chief Executive of the Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust, responsible for the management of Melbourne’s sports and entertainment precinct, including the Rod Laver Arena and AAMI Park - and home of the Australian Open.

The Australian Event Awards is the national awards program for the events industry. It is the only opportunity for event professionals to compete directly across the nation and across all facets of the Industry to establish which are Australia’s best events and event-related goods, services and innovations.

Among 24 Best Events, Achievements and Organisation Awards Categories is the Lifetime Achievement Award which aims at recognising great Australian events industry figures that have made significant contributions to events in Australia.

Harnden has extensive experience in leadership and executive management and is a highly regarded authority in sports business administration and major events – both nationally and internationally.

He has over 30 years’ experience heading up major sporting, entertainment, media and tourism organisations. Throughout this time Harnden has worked as Chair of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, Chief Executive of the ICC 2015 World Cup Organising Committee, South Australian Cricket Association, Village Roadshow International Theme Parks, the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and he also served as Chief Executive of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation.

In 2007, he was awarded an Order of Australia for services to sport for his work on the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games, and in 2020 he was given lifetime membership of Motorsport Australia.

Currently, Harnden is working as the Chair of ICC 2022 T20 World Cup Organising Committee and a Director of Cricket Australia. 

Harnden advises “I’m grateful and humbled to join the ranks of so many esteemed colleagues who have been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

“In my career I’ve had the privilege to work across events, sports, tourism and venue management, and the one thing they have in common is that they all rely on great team work. I’ve been very fortunate to work with some of the most talented and dedicated people in the sector.

“In accepting this award I would like to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to all those I have worked with, who have contributed to our shared successes.”

All of the 2021 Australian Event Awards finalists and winners, including Harnden, will be announced as a series of bite sized, video broadcasts uploaded to the Awards’ YouTube channel each evening over 12 days from 20th – 31st October. Harnden will be presented with his Lifetime Achievement Award on Wednesday 27th October at 8pm (AEDT) on YouTube.

The schedule of each category announcement can be viewed on the Awards website or you can subscribe to their YouTube channel to get an alert when each video goes live.

Image: John Harnden AM Lifetime Achievement Australian Event Award 2021