North Port Events has won 'Best New Zealand Show' for the third year running at the Exhibition and Event Association of Australasia's (EEAA) 2010 Awards for Excellence - this time for its newest show, Fine Food New Zealand.

Fine Food New Zealand also picked up the award for Best New Show at the gala industry event held in the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Tuesday 30 November 2010.

Meanwhile, The Food Show Auckland, last year's winner in the 'Best Consumer Show Under 10,000m2' category, was named as a finalist in the same category but was beaten by The Baby Show Melbourne.

"Winning these awards is a very big deal and serves to underscore what a massive success the very first Fine Food New Zealand has been," says Dona White, CEO of North Port Events.

Launched in 2010, Fine Food New Zealand is the only fully comprehensive, international trade exhibition for the New Zealand food service, food retail, and hospitality industries. A 'sister event' to the highly successful Fine Food Australia shows, run by Diversified Exhibitions Australia, the inaugural Fine Food New Zealand event exceeded expected visitor numbers by 15% and drew a constant stream of praise from all corners of the industry.

"Winning Best New Show and Best New Zealand Show are particularly great accolades for us because it confirms we made the right call in providing the New Zealand food service and hospitality industries with an event that they're proud to support in huge numbers," says Dona White.

"I'd like to pay tribute to Diversified Exhibitions Australia, who had the foresight to partner with us to bring the Fine Food concept to New Zealand and helped us make the show the runaway success it has been.

"We're now looking forward to the next Fine Food New Zealand show in 2012 - and to make it even bigger and better than it was in 2010."