On Monday night, the bright and beautiful of Canberra’s hospitality industry gathered at the National Convention Centre to celebrate the 2015 Australian Hotels Association Annual Awards.

It was a brilliant night, with everyone dressed to the ‘nines’ and ready to celebrate what has been an amazing year for Canberra venues. Plenty of friends of OutInCanberra were recognised for their efforts. Here are just a few of the worthy recipients.

Hopscotch Bar – host of the after party – continued its amazing year with the Best Bar and Presentation Award. If it was looking that good by 3.00am Tuesday morning, we’d be very impressed! Hopscotch also collected Best Pub Bistro – so ‘Hello!’ to recovery burgers.

David Quinn – from Duxton and Loft Bar and Grill was honoured with the John Press Award for services to the local industry. ‘Quinny’ (as he is known) has been a friendly and familiar face in Canberra for almost 15 years, and is a passionate promoter of the region.

If you’re keen for a big night this weekend, Knightsbridge Penthouse (eventually) went home with Best Late Night Entertainment Venue, and Academy confirmed its position as the premier nightclub through the award for Best Late Night Entertainment Venue.

Hotel Realm – which is just about to open its Little National Hotel – was installed in the AHA Hall of Fame in recognition of the amazing precinct they have developed. As an example of this, the Best Marketed Hotel was Burbury Hotel and its eatery, Lilo Tang, collected Best Hotel Restaurant.

Capitol Bar and Grill at QT Canberra walked away with Best Wine List – and did it a lot more elegantly than we have when walking away from one of their tables after a great night of food and wine. They also took the Best Prestigious Dining honour in a highly competitive category.

Meanwhile, down at Kingston Foreshore, Best Apprentice Chef went to Walt & Burley’s Tara Chainey, while The Dock was recognised as the Best Sporting Entertainment Venue.

East Hotel did very well, collecting Best Suite/Apartment Hotel as well as Best Superior Accommodation (4.5 Star). General Manager Todd Handy was honoured as the AHA Member of the Year.

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All-in-all, it was a great night that really demonstrated the value of the local industry. With so many options, and so many people working to improve the local industry, we can only imagine that the next 12 months will be even better!

Congratulations from OutInCanberra to all the winners!