We all had a com­plete­ly bril­liant time on Thurs­day night at the TAWAs!

It was great to see so many of y’all along there, along with the awe­some nom­i­nees and a few celebri­ty guests (not that Welling­ton has any actu­al celebri­ties, but, you know…)

Thanks to our fab­u­lous spon­sors who gave us swag and prizes

And thanks also to Welling­ton Cen­tral MP Grant Robert­son for pre­sent­ing the Welling­ton­ian of the Year award, which went to Cal­lum Brown of Green Cabs.

After the awards, we relaxed to the lazy sounds of The Lone­some Cow­boy, and then danced up a storm to Bun­nies on Ponies, who end­ed their set with a v. swingo­ril­liant cov­er of Dire Straits ‘Sul­tans of Swing’.

It was a super evening, and now that our Fri­day post-TAWAs fug has worn off, we’re look­ing for­ward to the 2009 TAWAs.

All that remains now is to cel­e­brate this year’s win­ners. We encour­age you to sup­port these busi­ness and places (in fact, all the nom­i­nees are awe­some), as they’re all part of why Welling­ton is such an excel­lent town.

The 2008 Welling­ton­ista Award Win­ners

BEST CHEAP EATS
Satay King­dom

BEST UN-CHEAP EATS
Florid­i­tas

BEST LATE-NIGHT VENUE
Mighty Mighty

BEST DRINK IN TOWN
The Mega Mai Tai at the Mat­ter­horn

BEST PLACE TO SHAKE YOUR THANG
Mighty Mighty

BEST SUBURBAN DESTINATION
Maranui Cafe

BEST NON-DRINKING DESTINATION
The Botan­ic Gar­dens

BEST CLOTHING RETAILER
Zig­gu­rat

BEST SHOP
Uni­ty Books

BEST PUBLIC SPACE
Wai­t­an­gi Park

BEST ART EXPERIENCE
The Lumi­nous Stick­ers of New­town

MOST NEEDED
A 24-hour din­er

BEST COFFEE
Peo­ples Cof­fee, New­town

BEST SERVICE
The McKen­zie Broth­ers at the Hawthorn Lounge

BEST CONTRIBUTION BY A WELLINGTONIAN TO THE INTERNET
The Welling­ton Flickr group

BEST REGULAR ENTERTAINMENT
Films at the Archive

BEST LIVE PERFORMANCE
The Phoenix Foun­da­tion in Frank Kitts Park

BEST WELLINGTON-BASED EVENT
World of Wear­able Art

WELLINGTONIAN OF THE YEAR
Cal­lum Brown: Green Cabs

Update

Video blog­ger Mico from The Side­strip has made a cool lit­tle video about the TAWAs. It’s just like being there, only with­out the sen­sa­tion of hav­ing drunk too much.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhfEffnLC‑s]