After two years of having to postpone the Hellenic Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (HACCI) renowned Awards Gala Ball due to COVID-19 restrictions, the event is making a comeback at the Plaza Ballroom in Melbourne on Friday 11 November.
“It’s time to share a drink, enjoy a delicious feast, dance, sing, and honour the best and brightest of our community; celebrating their achievements, their professional excellence, their life journey, their resilience, vision, innovation, and ingenuity,” HACCI Board Chair, Fotini Kypraios said.
“All these traits are needed, more than ever, today as we continue to face many challenges. Nobody thought that the post-pandemic recovery would be easy, but it seems like there’s an army of forces beyond our control, testing our resilience: interest rate hikes; inflation; staff shortages; supply chain disruptions; and to top it all, an energy crisis – to say that businesses are under extreme pressure, would be a great understatement.”
It is exactly those attributes, the 2022 HACCI Awards concept wants to reflect, the resilience and persistence people of business – especially those from migrant backgrounds.
“We know that the pathway to success is a long and curvy one; it has ups and downs; it calls for patience, tenacity, strategy and focus on the goal – being better, getting better, all the time,” said Ms Kypraios.
“The journey of excellence is a Marathon, not a sprint race.”
Conceptualised by Athens-based designer Antonis Glikos, this year’s HACCI Excellence Awards theme is inspired by one of Athens’ most iconic landmarks – the ‘Kallimarmaron’ Panathenaic Stadium.
The world’s only stadium to be completely built from marble, it is a symbol of austere elegance, its form in absolute service to functionality. Built by Lykourgos around 330 BCE, it was unearthed in 1869 and refurbished, hosting the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Ever since, it has been serving as the finishing point for the Athens Classic Marathon. By referencing this shape, the 2022 HACCI Awards theme is a return to the classic ideals that shaped Hellenic culture, and continue being a source of inspiration.
The concept highlights the core values and ideas the HACCI Excellence Awards celebrate; an acknowledgement of achievements, tangible outcomes, impact, community, personal and professional success – and more than that, the idea that Excellence is not an end in itself; it is a beginning of a community leader’s journey.
“As we continue to celebrate the bicentenary of Greek liberation, it is these fundamentally Hellenic traits the 2022 HACCI Awards will honour,” Ms Kypraios added, encouraging everyone to consider these ideals as they nominate worthy candidates for the 2022 HACCI Excellence Awards.
For ticket bookings and further information visit www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=807674&
