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…