Friday Mar 26, 2004

On Friday 5th March, ExCeL London was awarded 'Institute/Association Award Scheme of the Year' at the Awards Awards ceremony at the prestigious Dorchester Hotel. This accolade was presented to ExCeL London and the aeo (association of exhibition organisers) for the 'Aeo Awards 2003.'

The 2003 aeo Awards saw 4,000sqm of ExCeL London hall space transformed into a Caribbean carnival theme for 1,200 guests, with carnival performers, palm trees, singing waiters, an Ice Bar and Oxygen Bar, followed by a barbeque in the evening with a jazz funk band.

Says James Mark, Head of Event Management, ExCeL London: "The 2003 Awards have been hailed as the best exhibition industry awards ever staged and we received huge praise from the industry guests that attended. Both event management teams at the aeo and ExCeL London are delighted to receive industry recognition for the hard work and team effort that took place in running such a fantastic event. We hope this award is the first of many for ExCeL London and are now looking forward to helping the aeo celebrate their tenth anniversary at ExCeL London in July."

Says John Wallace, aeo Marketing Director: "We are really pleased to have won this award, especially given the quality of the other nominees. This is fantastic recognition of the great effort put into staging the 2003 ExCeL Londonlence Awards by ExCeL London, the awards working group, the aeo team and the many suppliers and sponsors who supported the event.

The aeo Awards ceremony has gone from strength to strength since its inception, so this trophy is really the culmination of many years work. We have put a lot of effort into making the ExCeL Londonlence Awards a great party and a top networking event, and this award is a vindication of the decision made four years ago to move this event from traditional awards locations to our member venues. Let's hope the 2004 event exceeds the high standards established in 2003!"

For more information, please contact Gemma Parkhouse at ExCeL London on 020 7069 4739 or email gemmaparkhouse@ExCeL-london.co.uk