	{"id":111501,"date":"2025-04-07T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=111501"},"modified":"2025-04-02T21:09:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T10:09:09","slug":"local-venues-staff-up-for-hospitality-honours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/living\/local-venues-staff-up-for-hospitality-honours\/","title":{"rendered":"Local venues, staff up for hospitality honours"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TWO Ballarat venues and another in Meredith are finalists in this year&#8217;s Australian Hotels Association (Victoria) state awards for excellence.<\/p>\n<p>The Western Hotel has secured a finalist&#8217;s nomination in four categories and Park Hotel employee Luke Evans is named as a finalist in the Excellence in Service category.<\/p>\n<p>The Meredith Hotel, meanwhile, is listed among the finalists in two categories.<\/p>\n<p>The venues and Mr Evans are among more than 370 finalists \u2013 including individuals and operating entities \u2013 vying for honours this year.<\/p>\n<p>Winners in 39 categories will be announced at a gala dinner event at Crown Palladium in Melbourne on 19 May.<\/p>\n<p>The Western Hotel is listed in the Best Casual Dining (Regional), Best Outdoor Experience (Regional), Best Pub Bar (Regional) and Parma of the Year (Regional) sections.<\/p>\n<p>The Meredith Hotel is in the running for the Best Pub Restaurant (Regional) and Parma of the Year (Regional) honours.<\/p>\n<p>For the Western Hotel, its selection as a finalist in the four categories is an exact repeat of its appearance in the 2024 awards, while the Meredith Hotel was listed in the regional pub restaurant section.<\/p>\n<p>Oscars Hotel and Cafe Bar was the other Ballarat finalist from last year, winning the Best Hotel \u2013 Pub-Style Accommodation award.<\/p>\n<p>The awards recognise the commitment and dedication of the association&#8217;s publicans, hoteliers and their staff.<\/p>\n<p>The Notting Hill Hotel, better known as The Nott, took out the Hotel of the Year (Metropolitan) award last year, while the Middle Hotel Korumburra was named Hotel of the Year (Regional).<\/p>\n<p>Both pubs also won their respective Best Outdoor Experience categories, with Notting Hill Hotel also winning Best Retail Liquor Outlet, while Middle Hotel Korumburra took out Parma of the Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TWO Ballarat venues and another in Meredith are finalists in this year&#8217;s Australian Hotels Association (Victoria) state awards for excellence. The Western Hotel has secured a finalist&#8217;s nomination in four categories and Park Hotel employee Luke Evans is named as a finalist in the Excellence in Service category. The Meredith Hotel, meanwhile, is listed among [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/living\/local-venues-staff-up-for-hospitality-honours\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":111506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-111501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Local venues, staff up for hospitality honours - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ballarat venues, including the Western Hotel and Park Hotel&#039;s Luke Evans, are finalists in the AHA Victoria State Awards. Winners to be announced on May 19.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/living\/local-venues-staff-up-for-hospitality-honours\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Local venues, staff up for hospitality honours - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ballarat venues, including the Western Hotel and Park Hotel&#039;s Luke Evans, are finalists in the AHA Victoria State Awards. Winners to be announced on May 19.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/living\/local-venues-staff-up-for-hospitality-honours\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-06T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/Untitled-design-39.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darren McLean\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darren McLean\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/living\\\/local-venues-staff-up-for-hospitality-honours\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/living\\\/local-venues-staff-up-for-hospitality-honours\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darren McLean\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1bcfc3c748613d0b0c79f665c5cbbd8c\"},\"headline\":\"Local venues, staff up for hospitality honours\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-06T18:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/living\\\/local-venues-staff-up-for-hospitality-honours\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":286,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/living\\\/local-venues-staff-up-for-hospitality-honours\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Untitled-design-39.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Living\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/living\\\/local-venues-staff-up-for-hospitality-honours\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/living\\\/local-venues-staff-up-for-hospitality-honours\\\/\",\"name\":\"Local venues, staff up for hospitality honours - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/living\\\/local-venues-staff-up-for-hospitality-honours\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/living\\\/local-venues-staff-up-for-hospitality-honours\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Untitled-design-39.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-06T18:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Ballarat venues, including the Western Hotel and Park Hotel's Luke Evans, are finalists in the AHA Victoria State Awards. 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