Buskers by the Creek, Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in race to be crowned country’s Best Event

A SMALL festival for buskers will be running against the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games for the top honour at this year’s Australian Event Awards.

IN a case of ”the little event that roared’’, last year’s Buskers by the Creek Festival is up against the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games for the top honour at this year’s Australian Event Awards.

The local events have been named finalists in the coveted Best Event category, with the winner to be announced at the 2018 Australian Event Awards and Symposium on the Sunshine Coast on November 21.

Robert Plant during his headlining set at the 2018 Byron Bay Bluesfest, which has been named a finalist for Best Event at the 2018 Australian Event Awards. Picture: Bruce Davis

Their fellow local finalists in the hotly contested category, won last year by the Spirit of Anzac Centenary Experience, include the 2018 Byron Bay Bluesfest, 2017 Splendour in the Grass and the Queensland Government’s Trade 2018: The Trade and Investment Program of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

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Crowds at the 2017 Splendour in the Grass music festival, which has made the finals of the Best Event category at the 2018 Australian Event Awards. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images.

The event industry’s peak honours, the Australian Event Awards and Symposium, are open to all Australian events, event managers and support service providers regardless of event type or audience, size or attendance, location or association membership.

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Crowds at the 2017 Buskers By The Creek festival at Winders Park, Currumbin. Picture: Jerad Williams

This year’s Best Event finalists run the gamut, from established favourites such as the 2018 Sydney Vivid Festival and Adelaide Fringe to the Sunshine Coast-hosted Queensland Garden Expo 2017, the City of Perth Australia Day Skyworks 2018 and the 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

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Several Commonwealth Games-related companies and events were also named category finalists.

The Electric Canvas has made the finals of the Achievement category at the Australian Event Awards for its work on the projections featured during the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.

Sold Out Events is a national finalist in the Achievement category for its Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Sponsorship Program Delivery: Longines, TAFE Queensland, Elastoplast, Aggreko and Sold Out Events.

Other Achievement category finalists include TAFE Queensland for its Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Training Partnership, and The Electric Canvas for its work on the Gold Coast Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies.