It is with great pride and plea­sure that we announce the nom­i­nees for the First Annu­al Welling­ton­ista Awards for Out­stand­ing Achieve­ment in the Field of Excel­lence.

The Welling­ton­ista have sweat­ed and slaved over the cat­e­gories, and now it is your turn for action. Step up and send us your votes before Novem­ber 30. The awards will be announced in an elab­o­rate* cer­e­mo­ny on Fri­day Decem­ber 1 which we would love for you to attend.

Why should you vote? Because your opin­ion counts. And so that you’ll receive an invi­ta­tion to the awards. And because you’ll go in to the draw to win awe­some prizes, includ­ing but not nec­es­sar­i­ly lim­it­ed to good­ies from Baby­li­cious, signed copies of 101 Sto­ries That I Want To Tell You, tasty sal­ads from Kapai (dis­claimer: we wrote nice things about them before they offered up prizes), stun­ning tshirts, signed pho­tos of The Drop­kicks and life­long Coun­try Club mem­ber­ship.

The cat­e­gories are after the jump, and nom­i­nees are sug­ges­tions only — you’re free to write-in your win­ners.

Please email your votes to the.wellingtonista(at)gmail.com. One vote per per­son please — we will of course be using scrupu­lous IP check­ing and all sorts of tech­ni­cal wiz­ban­gadry to pre­vent cheat­ing (but vot­ing for mem­bers of the Welling­ton­ista in the WWW cat­e­go­ry may coin­ci­dent­ly bump up your chances of win­ning a spot prize. If we were cor­rupt­able. Which we’re not. So please do vote for the best can­di­date for the job). Feel free to dis­cuss the awards, prizes and cer­e­monies in the com­ments sec­tion, but no cam­paign­ing!

First Annu­al Welling­ton­ista Awards for Out­stand­ing Achieve­ment in the Field of Excel­lence

EAT/DRINK THINGS

1. When I am not hav­ing a mar­ti­ni, I like to drink a:
A. Masique at Boulot
B. Caipir­in­ha at Havana
C. Falling Water at the Mat­ter­horn
D. Beer in a brew­ery-type bar
E. Oth­er:

2. I spent all my rent mon­ey on din­ner here, but at least when the bailiffs beat me to death I will die bliss­ful­ly:
A. Bisque
B. Logan Brown
C. Fran­cois
D. Chameleon
E. Oth­er:

3. I found $20 in my flat­mate’s room, so it’ll be din­ner at:
A. Sweet Moth­er’s Kitchen
B. Malaysian any­where
C. Sco­pa
D. Burg­er Fuel
E. Oth­er:

4. When even Win­ston Peters has gone to bed, the best bar to go to is:
A. San Fran­cis­co Bath­house
B. Good Luck
C. The Welsh Bar
D. Havana
E. Oth­er:

5. Good things hap­pen in the sub­urbs too, hon­est — like this place:
A. Maranui Surf Club, Lyall Bay
B. The Choco­late Fish, Seaton
C. Swell Restau­rant, Waikanae
D. Go Bang, Petone
E. Oth­er:

6. The Welly solu­tion to a hang­over is:
A. Brunch at Fidel’s
B. Cof­fee, cof­fee, cof­fee — and I don’t care where from
C. A brisk swim on the south coast
D. Hair of that bas­tard dog that bit me
E. Oth­er:

7. The place that’s like, so total­ly over is:
A. The Mat­ter­horn
B. Dock­side
C. Chow
D. Jet
E. Oth­er:

8. The sin­gle best thing I’ve had in my mouth all year:

DOING THINGS

9. How I enter­tain those from out of town who might not want to drink all day:
A. A trip to Moore Wilson’s
B. The view from Mount Vic­to­ria
C. Te Papa
D. Some­thing to do with Peter Jack­son
E: Oth­er:

10. My favourite part of town is:
A. Cuba Quar­ter
B. Courte­nay Quar­ter
C. Willis Quar­ter
D. Lambton Quar­ter
E. Oth­er:

11. Welling­ton most needs:
A. A tiki bar
B. An aquar­i­um
C. Light rail
D. A bypass
E. Oth­er:

12. The event that made me get off my arse the most:
A. Craftwerk
B. Hula Lagu­na
C. The film fes­ti­vals (well, off your ass to the movie the­atre then back onto it)
D. The Sev­ens
E. Oth­er:

SHOPPING THINGS

13. If I was­n’t eat­ing out all the time this is how I’d DIY it food source:
A. Moore Wilson’s Fresh
B. The Mediter­ranean Ware­house
C. Wai­t­an­gi mar­kets
D. New World for its unbeat­able loca­tions
E. Oth­er:

14. I look good because I am dressed by:

15. You can nev­er buy too much stuff from:

PEOPLE THINGS

16. Most bad­dest wickedest evilest supervil­lan of the year:
A. Ker­ry Pren­der­gast
B. H. West­fold, Hataitai
C. The fog
D. Lyle Lan­ley
E. Oth­er:

17. Damn I’m proud you’re from Welling­ton entertainer(s):
A. The Phoenix Foun­da­tion
B. Fat Fred­dy’s Drop
C. Flight of the Con­chords
D. Peter Jack­son
E. Oth­er:

18. I love you the mostest Welling­ton­ian of the year:

19. Best for­eign per­son or group to come to lit­tle old Welling­town
A. Rolling Stones
B. Den­zel Wash­ing­ton
C. John Howard
D. Don­ny Osmond
E. Oth­er:

20. Best dub dub duber- Web-Writ­ing-Welling­ton­ian

PUBLIC SPACES

21. If this build­ing was a per­son, I would be mak­ing sweet luu­urve to it right now:
A. The Welling­ton Pub­lic Library
B. The Majes­tic Cen­tre
C. The Embassy The­atre
D. Futu­na Chapel
E. Oth­er:

22. My cul­ture fix­es are prin­ci­pal­ly deliv­ered by:
A. The Para­mount The­atre
B. Slow­boat Records
C. Uni­ty Books
D. Mag­netix
E. Oth­er:

23. This sub­urb is so hot right now:
A. Hataitai
B. Island Bay
C. New­town
D. Petone
E. Oth­er:

24. For­get park­ing places, the best park is:
A. Mid­land Park
B. Frank Kitts Park
C. The Botan­i­cal Gar­dens
D. Wai­t­an­gi Park
E. Oth­er:

25. Best pub­lic art:
A. Water Whirler
B. Ferns in Civic Square
C. The Buck­et Foun­tain
D. The alley between Ghuznee St and the Left Bank
E. Oth­er:

26. In 2007 I will resolve to:
A. Vis­it more art gal­leries
B. Take pub­lic trans­porta­tion more often
C. Sup­port local busi­ness­es instead of chains
D. Learn to enjoy drink­ing mar­ti­nis
E. Oth­er:

* After many mar­ti­nis, every­thing is elab­o­rate