The Essentials

You can find information on all of this year's categories here.

Nominations open Tuesday, 15 May and close on Sunday, 17 June (finalists are announced 25 June).

Anyone working in the Otago hospitality industry can fill out a nomination form. The ‘industry’ encompasses all owners and workers at hospitality establishments and their direct suppliers. If you are unsure whether you are eligible to submit a nomination form, please email events@restaurantnz.co.nz. 

You are asked to give your name, email address and workplace when submitting your nomination form.

You can nominate anyone working in the Otago hospitality industry, but we have a few rules in place to keep it fair:

• No individual is entitled to nominate themselves or the establishment they work for
• You can nominate your colleagues from your own establishment
• Each establishment can only submit five nomination forms per business and any forms received over and above this will be disregarded
• Please NB: You can nominate the establishment you work for in the People's Choice category (one nomination per email address)
• Finalists are not selected based on popularity, we qualify and confirm details for each nomination to keep it fair. Any stacked nominations will be discarded...we'll be watching.

The Otago Hospitality Awards is open to all members of the industry...

However, it does pay to become a member of the Restaurant Association as there are a whole raft of benefits that can help you and your business.

As a member you will receive access to our exclusive Business Helpline and valuable tools and resources, discounts and savings from our fantastic partners, brand exposure on our Dinefind website, access to education, training and professional development on all the latest food & beverage trends and much much more!

CLICK HERE for more details on becoming a RA Member.

Nominations are received by industry as these awards are peer nominated and voted for. The Restaurant Association qualify the nominations, and from the nominations received finalists in each category are confirmed.

Finalists are announced on Tuesday, 25 June via the Otago Awards Facebook: facebook.com/otagohospitalityawards

Finalist voting opens on Tuesday, 25 June and closed on Sunday, 14 July.

The same rules apply for voting as they do the nominations. 

Anyone working in the Otago hospitality industry can fill out a voting form. The ‘industry’ encompasses all owners and workers at hospitality establishments and their direct suppliers. 

PLEASE NOTE - You may only submit five voting forms per business. Any forms following that will be disregarded.

Vaul 21, the Octagon

Anyone! The awards night is a celebration of the industry as a whole. We encourage people from all sides of the industry to come along. 

Tickets are $70 per person

PLEASE NOTE - Ticket numbers are strictly limited (due to venue capacity) so avoid missing out buy purchasing your tickets early.

Tickets to the awards night go on sale via our website on Tuesday, 28 June – the same day nominations open.

You sure do! Every finalist will received one complimentary ticket to the event.

It’s important to note that ticket numbers are strictly limited (due to venue capacity) so avoid missing out by purchasing additional tickets early.

We’ll be popping a few bottles of champers, so yes - the awards evening is R18 only.