BIRTH OF THE ALLIE AWARDS
A trusted board member of the Atlanta Chapters of both the National Association of Catering Executives (NACE) and the International Live Event Association (ILEA), Lundy brought forward his idea to both organizations and received their backing for the production. An awards committee was formed with Lundy as the Chair and Judy Cook as the Co-Chair. They were assisted by wonderful industry visionaries like Suzanne Stedman, Edmund Faget, Debbie Hill and Ralph Traxler.
The name “Allies” was selected to represent all “allied” event companies in Atlanta working together for a common good: to promote excellence in event design, planning and production.
The inaugural event was held in 1991 to a group of 185 event professionals in the Greater Atlanta area, during a broadcast of the Oscars, with awards presented during commercial breaks. That year there were few categories. But, each year since then, the committee has added new awards to recognize the growth and depth of our industry.
THE ALLIES TODAY
Today, 32 years later, the Atlanta Allies has grown into a huge production with 30+ awards and has also donated monies to charitable organizations in the Atlanta area. Several other ILEA Chapters in North America have modeled awards celebrations around the Allies, and following the success of these Chapter awards, the International ILEA Esprit Awards celebration now exists.
Atlanta is very proud of the longevity and success of the Allie Awards, and invites you to participate by attending, entering, sponsoring or volunteering!
