The Spectrum of Hospitality Awards in New Zealand - The Complete List

Awards in New Zealand hospitality aren’t decorations; they’re channels. Each one unlocks a different lever in the business. Cuisine hats and Metro listings shift price integrity and who books you. Regional RA awards (Felix, Lewishams) lift staff pride and applications because they’re peer-voted. WOAP, Toastie Takeover and the Pie Awards manufacture demand in soft months. Brewers Guild and Spirits awards move taps and shelf space. Design and hotel awards (Best Design, HM, HNZ) change how owners talk capex—and how event planners rank your venue.

This guide maps the whole awards ecosystem by what it actually does for a venue.

Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence

If you want the national benchmark of business and people performance, it’s the Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence, New Zealand’s premier industry awards, now in their 27th+ year. Running as a two-night gala alongside the HNZ conference, they’re split between People’s awards (think Chef of the Year, Industry Leaders, Future Leader, Supplier) and Business awards (Best Restaurant, Bar, Café, Hotel, Motel, Destination Venue, Local, Entertainment, Gaming) with Sustainability Champion, People’s Choice and a Supreme Winner drawn from category champions. The process is disciplined: entries typically open in March, finalists hit in June, and independent judges visit or interview before naming winners at the gala; a Hall of Fame inductee caps the year’s narrative. The program has tracked the sector’s pulse, post-pandemic resilience, a sharper sustainability lens, and the emergence of venues capable of multi-category sweeps (Peekaboo Backyard Eatery’s 2025 trifecta - Best Café, Sustainability Champion, Supreme, being the archetype). For sponsors, the alignment is strategic; for operators, a win materially shifts profile, talent attraction and price integrity. (Hospitality NZ)

Restaurant Association Regional Hospitality Awards

Across the country, the Restaurant Association’s regional awards are the beating heart of peer recognition: hospitality workers nominate and vote for their own, region by region. From the Felix Awards in Wellington to Canterbury, Hawke’s Bay, Bay of Plenty, Southern Lakes, Otago and beyond, categories mirror local scenes, Outstanding Restaurant, Café, Bar, Chef, Barista, Bartender, FOH, Emerging Chef, Ambience & Design, with public-voted People’s Choice in some regions. In 2025, RA deliberately devolved operations, empowering local committees to own sponsorship, voting mechanics and event production while RA remains lead sponsor and standards-setter—ensuring each region’s awards feel like their community. The system’s credibility sits in that peer ballot; winners become local institutions and the plaques on the wall actually mean something in-house. Case in point: when 2024’s Felix Awards paused, Wellington rallied a grassroots “Welly Hospo Awards” within days, raising funds and sponsors to keep the tradition alive, proof these nights are as much about morale as medals. (Hospitality Awards, Restaurant Association NZ, Hospitality Business, RNZ)

Lewisham Awards (Auckland)

Auckland’s Lewishams, running since 2003 and named for the late Richard Lewisham, are the city’s great hospitality census taken by the people doing the work. Only industry can nominate and vote, and the category slate evolves with the city: Outstanding Chef, Bartender, Barista, FOH, Café, Restaurant, Cocktail, Wine, Beer, Innovation, Hospitality Hero, plus a clever “Outstanding Local Establishment” by sub-region to champion neighbourhood gems. The energy is rambunctious, the wins genuinely career-defining, and the peer-only ballot means a trophy lands when a broad cross-section says “yep, they’re the one.” You’ll see repeat titans and fresh faces in the same breath, a pie maker nabbing Emerging Talent one year, a bar savant the next; the point is that the city’s collective palate decides. (Hospitality Business, Lewisham Awards, Restaurant Association NZ, NZ Herald, Scoop)

Felix Wellington Hospitality Awards

The Felix Awards are the capital’s annual roll-call of who’s who, tight-knit, fiercely friendly, and very Wellington. Categories span the scene from restaurants and cafés to cocktail, wine and beer programs, with Supreme Establishment, Supreme Individual and a public People’s Choice punctuating the peer vote. The 2023 event at Tākina put small-but-mighty venues centre stage (Graze Wine Bar taking Supreme alongside Outstanding Restaurant and chef honours), while the 2024 pause and ad-hoc “Welly Hospo Awards” underscored how essential celebration is in a tough year. The official Felix return with a locally-led model in 2025 will likely amplify that community DNA. (Restaurant Association NZ, RNZ)

Cuisine Good Food Awards (Cuisine “Hats”)

If peer votes build reputations, Cuisine’s hats cement them nationally. Anonymous judging by a national panel scores food, service, drinks and ambiance to award one, two or three hats, our closest analogue to Michelin. The programme’s 2021 relaunch (with Amex) restored a gold-standard reference point, and its 2025 cut—six three-hat restaurants and 100+ hatted venues in total, shows a country where excellence is now broadly distributed: Auckland titans, Hawke’s Bay powerhouses, Queenstown royalty and credible newcomers. Category trophies (Restaurant of the Year, Chef of the Year, Best New, Regional, Service, Pastry, Champion for Change) read like a state-of-the-nation for where standards, and diners are moving. The list doesn’t just reward polish; it nudges the industry toward sharper service, stronger beverage programs and regional depth. (Cuisine, RNZ, Cuisine Good Food Guide)

Metro Restaurant of the Year (Auckland)

Metro’s Top 50 and category winners are the city’s clearest annual snapshot of taste, trend and talent. Anonymous revisits, a diverse judging panel and criteria that ask “does it brilliantly do what it sets out to do?” explain why an innovative plant-based bistro can take Supreme against fine-dining thoroughbreds, and why neighbourhood restaurants often outmuscle flashier CBD rooms. The Top 50 listing itself is potent—bookings move when you land it—and the categories (from Fine-Dining to Neighbourhood, Service, Wine, Chef, Pastry, Sommelier) map Auckland’s actual dining habits. Together with Cuisine’s national view, Metro offers the high-resolution local lens that diners trust and operators target. (Metro)

Visa Wellington On a Plate – Festival Awards

Wellington’s winter festival turns playful competition into genuine prestige. Burger Wellington and Cocktail Wellington run on a two-stage model, public scoring to build finalists, expert judging to pick champions, so both popularity and quality matter. The outcomes can be seismic for small teams: back-to-back burger wins by One80° didn’t just drive queues; they minted a local star and set a bar for technical ambition (yes, pickle-juice gels and lamb “snow” in a croissant bun can become canon). Regional winners spread the glow beyond the CBD, and event awards reward the city’s knack for blending food with artsy, interactive ideas. The festival’s value isn’t just hype; by gamifying August, it pulls real revenue into a slow month. (Visa Wellington On a Plate)

Beef + Lamb NZ

For two decades the Beef + Lamb Excellence Awards were a ubiquitous quality mark—if your steak had that Gold Plate on the wall, diners knew what to expect. Having essentially lifted the baseline across the country, the programme retired in 2019 and refocused on Ambassador Chefs, small, representative cohorts who champion technique, grass-fed provenance and seasonal craft through media, demos and mentorship. The Young Ambassador stream creates a visible pathway for under-26 talent. It’s a savvy evolution: fewer plaques, more storytelling and pedagogy, and a better fit for an era where many restaurants already meet a high standard with beef and lamb. (Beef + Lamb NZ, Hospitality Business, Restaurant Association NZ)

NZChefs – New Zealand Hospitality Championships

The National Salon is where the craft gets sharpened in public. Hundreds of chefs, pastry artists, baristas, service teams and students compete live across hot kitchen classes, pastries, service skills and signature trophies like NZ Chef of the Year. Medal thresholds reward absolute quality (multiple golds in a class) while overall class winners and Chef of the Year signal the apex. It’s the crucible from which international competitors are drawn, and its value runs beyond medals: the discipline required to execute under time and scrutiny migrates straight back to kitchens and dining rooms nationwide. (Worldchefs, NZChefs, Restaurant & Cafe)

Estrella Damm Top 50 New Zealand Gastropubs

A new, useful lens on a beloved format: pubs that cook like restaurants. A national judging panel curates a Top 50 and ranks them, then hands out regional titles and special trophies like Best Food & Beer Pairing. The 2025 Supreme win for The Fat Duck in Te Anau is the awards’ thesis in a headline: world-class pub dining doesn’t belong to big cities. The list doubles as a traveller’s guide and a carrot for publicans to invest in kitchens, beer programs and community relevance. Expect upward pressure on quality schnitties, pies, chargrill and Sunday roasts, plus better beer lists, in every corner of the country. (Top 50 Gastropubs NZ, Hospitality Business, NZ Herald)

The Great New Zealand Toastie Takeover

What began as a cheeky winter promotion is now an institution with real culinary stakes. Mandatory bread, cheese and McClure’s pickles set the playing field; everything else is a canvas for technique and storytelling. Regional judging, a national final, and a trophy that moves product like few others in winter, from Rotorua to the Mount to the West Coast—prove that mastery can sit inside a humble toastie. The competition has pushed kitchens to brine in pickle juice, play with smoke and fat, and find ways to express region and craft between two slices, exactly the kind of spirited constraint that keeps a scene inventive. (Toastie Takeover, Visa Wellington On a Plate)

Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Awards

The Pie Oscars are a phenomenon, thousands of entries, category golds across classics and gourmet, and a Supreme that can reset a bakery’s future overnight. The narrative arcs are pure New Zealand: the dominance (and mythology) of Tauranga’s Patrick Lam, a South Island breakthrough Supreme, Cambodian-Kiwi bakers rising on craft and graft, and flavours that move with our palates from mince-and-cheese to Sumatra beef curry and roast duck. Behind the headlines sits serious technical judging on pastry structure, lamination, filling physics and seasoning. Win here and you feel it in the till for months. (Pie Awards, NZ Herald, SunLive)

NZ Specialty Coffee Association Championships

Barista, Latte Art, Brewers Cup and Cup Tasters form a ladder that keeps café standards high and sends our best to world stages. The 15-minute barista routine (four espressos, four milk drinks, four signatures plus a polished narrative) is the apex performance art of the café, technical judges on station, sensory judges in real time. Recent champs making semis and finals globally have lifted the bar at home; many of the routines’ innovations (milk texture techniques, flavour infusions that make sense) become the flat whites and filters we drink a year later. It’s sport, scholarship and service in one. (NZSCA, Instagram)

NZ Spirits Awards

A joint venture between big-brand importers and local craft distillers, the Spirits Awards have quickly become the market’s quality compass: blind-tasted medals, Double Golds sparingly given, and category trophies that routinely land with Kiwi producers in gin and liqueurs while international stalwarts hold ground in whiskey. The signal to bars and retailers is clean, medals matter for ranging and menus, and the “Best NZ in Category” nods help surface local excellence to consumers drowning in label noise. Growth in rum and RTDs shows where producers are investing, and where palates are curious. (DrinksBiz, The Shout, Hancocks, NZ Spirits Awards)

Brewers Guild of New Zealand Beer Awards

The annual blind-tasting marathon is the industry’s feedback loop and marketing engine in one. Hundreds of beers judged to style, medal thresholds that actually mean something, trophies for each class, then Champion Beer and Champion Breweries by size and overall. It’s where styles rise (Hazy IPA’s own class), technique tightens (clean lagers are back), and where small regional breweries can genuinely beat the majors. A trophy changes demand, shelf space and distributor interest; the detailed judge feedback quietly improves the beer you’ll drink next winter. (Brewers Guild, Crafty Pint, The Shout)

New Zealand Cider Awards

Split from the old fruit wine awards as the category matured, the NZ Cider Awards reward proper cider craft, dry through sweet, perry, fruit-infused, hopped and wood-aged, with blind medals, trophies and a Champion producer. The Nelson/Tasman and Hawke’s Bay engine rooms often dominate on heritage fruit and technique, but the growth curve is national. Announcing winners at the NZ Cider Festival closes the loop between trade and public; medals here help educate consumers that “cider” can be as nuanced and food-worthy as wine or beer. (Cider NZ, NZ Cider Festival, NZ Herald)

NZ Ice Cream & Gelato Awards

Few countries care about ice cream like we do, and our awards behave accordingly, serious technical judging, a split between boutique and commercial supremes, and a vanilla category that’s treated as the industry’s calibration tool. Boutique winners can go from local favourite to national destination overnight; large-format vanilla trophies keep supermarket freezers honest. The recent tilt toward gelato and dairy-free classes reflects the market; the Innovation trophy shows a willingness to reward risk as long as flavour and texture sing. (Hospitality Business, NZ Ice Cream & Gelato Awards, The Coast)

New Zealand Sommelier of the Year + Champagne Louis Roederer Top 100 Sommeliers

Wine service is finally getting the stage time it deserves. The NZ Sommelier of the Year is a rigorous day of theory, blind tasting and service tasks that selects a national champion and an international representative; the rise of back-to-back winners and juniors speaks to a deepening bench. The new Top 100 Sommeliers ranking, by contrast, widens the lens, peer nominations, weighted points for achievements and roles, to celebrate influence across the country and lift the profession’s profile with diners and employers. The combined effect is more credible lists, tighter service, and clearer career pathways (and bragging rights that actually resonate with guests). (Sommelier NZ, Cameron Douglas MS, Facebook)

HM Awards (Australasia)

The HM Awards put New Zealand hotels and people on a trans-Tasman stage. Dedicated NZ categories sit alongside the big Australasian titles, and in strong years Kiwi properties have taken top honours, useful ammunition when pitching high-value travellers, owners and media.

Judges want proof, not prose. Show deltas and context: RevPAR/ADR vs comp set, guest sentiment (NPS/GSS) tied to specific interventions, F&B mix shift post-concept refresh, real sustainability metrics (energy intensity, waste diversion), and leadership impact (retention, cross-training, wellbeing). Add third-party validation (brand audits, owner letters, press), keep imagery functional (rooms, F&B, team in service), and write like an operator. Fold shortlists/wins straight into RFP decks, GDS/OTA copy and meeting-planner packs to hold ADR and unlock shoulder-season demand.

AHICE Aotearoa – Hotel Leadership Awards

AHICE Aotearoa is people-centric by design, GM, Rising Star, Service and Team - recognising those who steadied rosters, culture and guest experience when it counted. It’s domestic, but the signal travels: capable leadership underwrites product performance.

Frame entries around causality. Connect actions to outcomes: sick leave down after scheduling reform; upsell rate up after a wine/service reset; complaint categories disappearing after lobby reflow and front-desk retraining; community partnerships that improved hiring pipelines. Post-win, brief owners and teams with a “how we did it” memo, update bid docs and corporate decks, and use the credential to argue for capex prioritisation and price integrity.

World Travel Awards & World Culinary Awards

Yes, they’re vote-driven and thus more marketing-led, but the World Travel Awards’ country categories—Leading Hotel, Resort, Boutique Hotel, Airline, Airport, Destination, still carry weight with international audiences who recognise the brand. Similarly, the World Culinary Awards put NZ restaurants and hotel dining rooms into a global PR slipstream; when an Amisfield or Sid at The French Café is crowned best in NZ or Oceania, international diners take notice and itineraries change. Used judiciously, these wins are a valuable top-of-funnel tool. (World Travel Awards, RNZ)

Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice

If the above are expert and industry votes, Travellers’ Choice is the unvarnished crowd voice at scale. Best of the Best lists for hotels, restaurants, beaches and attractions are driven by volume and quality of reviews, which is why B&Bs and boutique lodges can out-rank five-star brands. For operators, it’s a long game, consistent service and review management, not a campaign. For consumers, it’s democratised guidance that often tracks with reality, and for NZ tourism, these lists consistently surface regional gems beyond the usual suspects. (Tripadvisor)

Design Awards: DINZ Best Design, Interior Awards, Eat Drink Design

We judge with our eyes before we taste, and NZ’s design awards reward the rooms that shape experiences. The Designers Institute’s Best Design Awards (Spatial Hospitality) are the pinnacle for interior concepts that cohere, flow and feel like the brand; the Interior Awards (by Architecture NZ) bring an architectural lens and on-site judging to craftsmanship and narrative; Eat Drink Design pits Kiwi rooms against Melbourne and Sydney and proves our best bars, cafés and restaurants can win in Australasia. For owners, these plaques change how media and event planners talk about your venue; for guests, they’re why a night out lingers. (Best Design Awards, ArchitectureNow, Eat Drink Design)

NZ Event Awards (NZEA) & EVANZ Awards

The events spine of hospitality has its own recognition. NZEA’s awards honour venues and food-and-beverage events that deliver service, innovation and impact—from convention centres to beloved food festivals, often doubling as a compelling argument for council support and sponsor renewal. EVANZ’s awards focus on entertainment venues and professionals, arenas, theatres, stadiums, where operational excellence and customer experience underpin concerts, sport and community life. Both sets of trophies feed back into hospitality via better programming, better venue capability and higher expectations of service. (NZEA, EVANZ)

World’s 50 Best (Restaurants & Bars)

No NZ restaurant has cracked the main World’s 50 Best Restaurants list yet, nor do our bars feature regularly on the global Top 50, but the brand still matters here. Their Discovery platform lists Kiwi venues; their events and collaborations influence our top operators; and the ambition to one day rank drives investment in singular ideas and service. It’s healthy to have a moonshot. In the meantime, our national hats and local lists are doing a fine job of calibrating excellence for our context. (World’s 50 Best)

Wine Lists: Wine Spectator & The World of Fine Wine

Two complementary global yardsticks for wine programs. Wine Spectator’s tiered awards (Award of Excellence; Best of Award; the rare Grand Award) reward breadth, balance and pricing discipline, handy shorthand for international diners filtering where to book. The World of Fine Wine’s star ratings and category trophies go deeper, valuing coherence, curation and originality; New Zealand venues like Noble Rot, Huka Lodge and leading Auckland rooms have earned top-tier recognition, which quietly signals to collectors and serious enthusiasts that they’re in good hands. (Wine Spectator, The World of Fine Wine, The Shout, Restaurant Association NZ)

AICR New Zealand – Receptionist of the Year

Front-desk excellence rarely gets headlines, but AICR’s national competition puts it under lights. Role-plays, theory and service tests identify a receptionist who embodies craft and composure, then send them to the global David Campbell Trophy. It’s a practical talent engine—participants bring sharper skills back to their lobbies, and a meaningful pathway for young hotel professionals to accelerate into leadership. In an era where guest experience is the only true moat, this matters. (AICR International, Sommelier NZ)

So….

Don’t chase everything. Win the rooms that matter, at the moments that matter, and make the result compound—across pricing, demand, team morale and investor confidence. If you need the people to execute at that level week-in, week-out, Hospo HR can help you build a roster that wins both Friday night and finals night.

Pick the fights. Train. Ship. Measure. Redeploy. The badge won’t run your service, your systems and your team will.