So tonight we’re going to par­ty like it’s 2008 at The Annu­al Welling­ton­ista Awards (come along from 6pm, pre­sen­ta­tions kick off around 7.30), but before we have too many of the Welling­ton­ista Cock­tails that Mighty Mighty have designed for us, we want to take a minute or two to give much respect to the delight­ful love­ly peo­ple who’re help­ing us to make such a great event with their dona­tions of swag and spot prizes. In alpha­bet­i­cal order, mad props go out to:

Adi­das New Zealand: You know who else is from Welling­ton? The Hur­ri­canes. And we know that because Adi­das have giv­en us a brand new 2009 Welling­ton Hur­ri­canes Super 14 jer­sey with the new embossed print to give away to one lucky tick­et hold­er.

Aimée McLeod: Aimee is a local pot­ter who has made our fab­u­lous tro­phy tiles that the win­ners will be receiv­ing tonight. Her works are for sale in a whole bunch of places, she’s been exceed­ing gen­er­ous and sup­port­ive with her time and mate­ri­als, and just qui­et­ly, she’s also a pret­ty choice mum too.

The Back Bencher: The Back Bencher Pub is some­what of a famous des­ti­na­tion eatery across the road from the Bee­hive with its polit­i­cal-inspired pup­petry, menu and broad­cast show and the ser­vice isn’t half bad either. We’re hap­py to be giv­ing away three vouch­ers so you too can dine there, but we must warn you — talk to your com­pan­ion qui­et­ly if you’re a pub­lic ser­vant, because the ene­my is sure to be all around you.

Down­stage The­atre: Down­stage is New Zealand’s longest-run­ning pro­fes­sion­al the­atre, and thanks to their gen­er­ousi­ty, tonight’s award win­ners will be able to take some time to relax and check out a show to cel­e­brate their sweet sweet vic­to­ries.

Epic Beer: All the award­ing and par­ty­ing we’re going to be doing tonight rais­es a seri­ous thirst, and the best way to cure an epic thirst is with an Epic Beer, as half the swag bags will demon­strate. We salute Luke and his con­tin­ued sup­port of all things web­by.

The Film Archive: More than just a real­ly sexy-look­ing cafe, the Film Archive is actu­al­ly a trea­suretrove of nation­al trea­sures. It has has three prin­ci­pal functions—to col­lect, pro­tect and project New Zealand’s mov­ing image her­itage, and with dou­ble pass­es in each swag bag, you’ll get to check out that her­itage for free.

Good Mag­a­zine: Okay, it’s a bit obvi­ous to say this, but Good, New Zealand’s guide to sus­tain­able liv­ing, is actu­al­ly a bloody good read. The arti­cles are thick and engross­ing, rather than reprint­ed PR fluff, and the themes are inspir­ing. We’re real­ly glad to be giv­ing away back issues with a Rhys Dar­by cov­er because of the obvi­ous con­nec­tion to last year’s Welling­to­ni­ans of the Year, and we’re also real­ly hap­py we’ve got a year’s sub­scrip­tion to give away as well.

Lin­den Leaves: The pret­ty ones amongst us are all about gor­geous-smelling beau­ty prod­ucts, so we’re total­ly stoked that we’ve got a gift pack worth $115 to give away as a spot prize. Did you see that they offer free ship­ping with­in NZ? Smells a lot like Xmas to me!

NZon­Screen: As you’ve already read, NZon­Screen is a web­site which cel­e­brates and show­cas­es tele­vi­sion and film pro­duced in New Zealand, and it’s stacked with resources relat­ing to Welling­ton. The only wor­ry with the site is that you’ll lose your­self explor­ing all its videos, which is why for half the swag bags they’ve giv­en us real­ly awe­some tea tow­els, so that you’re remind­ed to get on with your chores, and kick­ass badges of NZ’s tele­vi­sion icons.

Pret­ty Pret­ty Pret­ty: Run by a Welling­ton­ista and a Partner&Girlfriend, Pret­ty Pret­ty Pret­ty con­tin­ues to empha­size that you can have nice beau­ty prod­ucts with­out sub­ject­ing your­self to the men­tal tor­ture of ‘beau­ty’ mag­a­zines. Their Gosh You Scrub Up Nice­ly Coconut Ice sug­ar scrub is a divine thing to use in the show­er, as you’ll find out for your­self if you show up in time to get a swag bag.

Super­Very: Did some­one say octokit­ty neck­laces? Mr & Mrs Skull bracelets? Craft 2.0? Miss Sue of Super­Very is pret­ty much Welling­ton craft per­son­i­fied, and we’re very excit­ed to be giv­ing away some of her fan­tas­tic cre­ations tonight.

Web­stock: Every­one knows that Web­stock is pret­ty much the great­est con­fer­ence ever (so much so that they’re up for a cou­ple of awards), and that their sexyass satchels are high­ly prized amongst the web com­mu­ni­ty. We’ve got FOUR of them to give away tonight, and for that we must give them much love. Espe­cial­ly since we won their quiz and all…