VMA announces 2022 venue industry award winners

The Venue Management Association (VMA) has announced the winners of its 2022 Venue Industry Awards, presented yesterday evening at the International Convention Centre Sydney as part of the Association’s 29th Asia-Pacific Venue Industry Congress.

The premier awards program for venue management professionals in the Asia-Pacific region, which have showcased the best of the venue industry’s talent since 2010, the Venue Industry Awards have a rich history of recognising leaders, game changers and innovators and are awarded based on the achievements of the nominees over the previous calendar year.

The winners for 2022 and their award commendations are:

Venue Professional of the Year Award
Maxine McIntyre, VenueSafe Advisor at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
During 2021, McIntyre led the development of MCEC’s key responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on venue operations. 

She worked with the Victorian Government to secure MCEC as the first COVIDSafe venue to operate outside of the Public Events Framework and led the planning to turn the venue into a temporary hospital should the need arise in response to the pandemic.

Allied Professional of the Year Award
Wayne Middleton CVE, Managing Director, Reliance Risk
In 2021, Middleton launched Reliance Risk NZ, and moved into a leadership role as Managing Director of his consulting business which involved a shift away from primarily operating as a consultant, into a leadership and mentoring role for the venue management industry workforce, which has grown to a team of 30 people across Australia and New Zealand. 

The year saw Middleton work on numerous major projects with Venues NSW, including their Resilience Framework and training of stadium staff. 
He also sat on the Melbourne & Olympic Parks COVID Recovery Steering Committee and helped lead the development of the Quarantine Risk Management Framework for the Australian Open.

This is the second time Middleton has received this award

Young Achiever of the Year Award
Caitlin Tilbee, Senior Event Coordinator at Queensland Country Bank Stadium
Having worked her way up from a casual event day staff member to now being the Senior Event Coordinator at Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville, Tilbee has been described as the “the embodiment of an outstanding Young Achiever”. 

With the venue only opening in 2020 and still in its formative years, Tilbee was required to bring a flexible approach to delivering events through COVID, rather than establishing protocols around the concept of a business as usual approach. 

She leads a team of two that has been responsible for delivering 23 major events, more than double the number of major events previously held in the venue, and welcomed and delivered outstanding service to five new major hirers during the year.

Tim Worton Award
The 2022 Venue Industry Awards also saw the introduction of the Tim Worton Award to recognise outstanding individuals who have made a significant contribution to the success of the VMA’s industry educational outcomes.

The inaugural winner announced for this new Award was the man himself, Tim Worton CVE. 

Having been an Instructor at the VMA’s Venue Management School and Leadership Institute from 1997 through 2019, Worton has played a significant role in educating our next generation of industry leaders for the last two decades. 

Worton was also the inaugural Dean of the VMA’s Leadership Institute from 2013 to 2016, and the Chair of the Venue Management School from 2005 to 2008.

The Tim Worton Award will be presented annually at the VMS Graduation Dinner each year at the School.

Commenting on the Awards, VMA President, Leighton Wood noted “our industry is unique and draws to it incredible individuals who are passionate about what they do. From memorable moments for their patrons to iconic events that form part of our nation’s culture and history, they are a rare breed and we love to celebrate them.

“The VMA continues to recognise and acknowledge those at the forefront of our industry, with this year having one of the strongest pool of candidates we have experienced. The judging panel deliberated over the compelling, engaging and heartfelt submissions of each nominee and without a doubt, all are worthy of commendation. Congratulations to this year’s winners, Maxine, Wayne and Caitlin, and to our Tim Worton Award recipient, Tim Worton.”

The 2022 Venue Industry Awards have been supported by industry leading organisations including ICS Service Solutions (Venue Professional of the Year), PBM Safety (Allied Professional of the Year) and Ungerboeck (Young Achiever of the Year).

The VMA also announced that its 2023 Congress will be held in Melbourne.

For a full list of past winners go to www.vma.org.au/award-winners/