Page 26 - Australasian Paint & Panel Nov-Dec 2018

2018 PAINT & PANEL BODYSHOP AWARDS
REWARDING NIGHT OF NIGHTS
Main: Comedian Justin Hamilton was MC for the night. Inset: Steven Brett from Platinum sponsors Axalta.
The autobody repair industry sparkled as it came together to celebrate the outstanding efforts of the 2018 Paint & Panel Bodyshop award winners.
A RECORD NUMBER of people, 190, attended the gala dinner at the Melbourne Arts Centre on Saturday 12 October to celebrate excellence in our industry. Comedian and broadcaster Justin Hamilton was the hilarious MC for the evening.
As well as presenting all of the state winners their trophies and showing videos of each of the winning shops (which you can find on our YouTube channel) the best practice and national best shop winners were announced.
We would like to thank all of our sponsors, firstly, for supporting the awards and secondly for bringing along their customers to the celebrations. Axalta and Compass have been the platinum sponsors for three years and have been fully behind our efforts to transition from a lunchtime event to an evening gala which brings the industry together for a night of celebration and networking.
Both Steven Brett, Axalta’s managing director and James Frape, CEO of Compass spoke briefly on stage congratulating winners. All the supporting sponsors – Glasurit, Car Craft Goup, Motor Trades Association of Australia, Collision Repair Expo,
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Vantage Automotive, Capital SMART, AkzoNobel and Norton St-Gobain were up on stage to present awards also. Thank you also to all the industry suppliers who weren't sponsors but came to cheer on their customers.
After a delicious meal, MC Justin Hamilton had the audience in stitches with a great stand up routine, before the national winners were announced. Everyone we talked to had a fabulous night and we hope next year will be even bigger and better. Congratulations to all the winners from the Paint & Panel team.
James Frape, managing director of platinum sponsors Compass said: “Congratulations to all the winners at the Paint & Panel Bodyshop Awards. To be recognised and respected as one of the premier professionals in the industry is an outstanding achievement. All the winners are truly leading by example to ensure the industry continues to grow and generate a reputation for excellence.
"Compass was privileged to be involved with the awards for the third year in a row and are looking forward to supporting it again in 2019. It keeps on getting bigger and better every year.”
Steven Brett, managing director from Axalta said: "The Paint & Panel Awards is a unique and important event for the industry. Each year, the Award nominees reflect increasingly high standards and share some very worthwhile innovations. The quality of nominees and the underlying effort that that they have put into their businesses is credit to them and the industry in general. It is an honour for Axalta to be associated with these awards."
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