The Variety Artists Club of New Zealand (VAC) brought the glitz and glamour to central Auckland on Sunday 9 November. Over 200 people attended the VAC’s annual entertainment awards held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel to celebrate yet another impressive list of Aotearoa’s entertainment talent legends and newcomers, which included musicians, comedians, magicians, dancers, actors, and television personalities.
The Variety Artists Club of New Zealand Inc (VAC) is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1966 to promote goodwill throughout the NZ entertainment industry. The Club was established to foster loyalty, friendship, and cooperation among performers and industry professionals across the country. Each year the VAC hosts the prestigious Benny Awards, a cornerstone event on the NZ entertainment calendar. The awards attract many of the nation’s most recognisable performers and influential industry figures, celebrating excellence and honouring outstanding contributions to the arts. The Benny Awards remain the only national honours recognising and celebrating artists across all genres and fields of entertainment in NZ.
The biggest award of the evening, the Benny Award for lifetime achievement went to NZ’s top female pop artist of the 1960’s, and Christchurch’s very own Queen of the Mods, DINAH LEE. In presenting the award VAC President, Tom Sharplin said that although Dinah had lived in Australia for many years she had never been forgotten by her homeland; that we are delighted to see her back with us and that the VAC is honoured to finally be able to present her with a coveted Benny.
Prestigious Scroll of Honour Awards were presented by David Hartnell MNZM, Patron of the VAC, to:
- RICHARD O’BRIEN, the creator of The Rocky Horror Show, the longest running stage show that has been performed in 30 countries, translated into 20 languages, and seen by over 53 million people so far for over 50 years. The film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is also the longest running film ever to play in global cinemas. Although born in England to where in 1964 he returned to break into the British film industry, he has called NZ home since emigrating here with his parents at the age of 10 in 1952 and where the seed of an idea started to grow for his global phenomenon while attending many late-night shows at Hamilton’s Embassy Theatre.
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