An employee at the Newstead Belmont Hill Golf Resort has been named as the 'Best of the Best' at a prestigious tourism awards ceremony.

Garry Burgess was presented with the Minister of Tourism's Award at the ninth annual Belco Visitor Industry Partnership Excellence Awards ceremony Saturday night.

Mr. Burgess, described in the nomination form as having a "level of professional service, friendliness, calm, welcoming and humorous demeanour [which] are an example to all" was presented with $20,000 in front of a crowd of more than 700 people.

In accepting his award, Mr. Burgess, declared: "The hotel industry of Bermuda is the complete industry. It still has a lot to offer."

He was selected ahead of Carl Paiva, of C Travel, who was earlier presented with the Airline Employee Award for best airline employee or travel agent, and Lauren Rawlins, of the Fairmont Southampton, voted the best "meeting planner, destination management employee, convention employee or sales and marketing employee."

Premier and Tourism Minister Dr. Ewart Brown and Mr. Fred Tesch, senior vice president of Butterfield Bank presented the awards and in all 18 were given for outstanding performance, service to customers and commitment to colleagues and company.

A special lifetime achievement award was also presented to Oliver Caisey who retired from service at the Grotto Bay Hotel in 2008 at the age of 91 after 78 years in the Bermudian hospitality industry.

The event, dubbed the 'Hospitality Oscars', had all the glitz, glam and level of excitement of those awards. The evening began with a parade of excellence with the 54 finalists, chosen from a record 540 nominations, filing in following a fanfare from the Saltus Brass Ensemble.

Following dinner, the awards themselves were presented, with Charmaine Burgess as Master of Ceremonies. The nominees in each category were 'introduced' with a video clip taken when they were told of their nomination. Many of the clips were taken whilst at their job, and almost all were caught by surprise at the news.

While there was one "Well, it's about time", which elicited empathetic laughs from the audience, Berchele Richardson of the Grotto Bay Beach Resort, nominated Best Chef, said: "I do my job. I didn't think anyone noticed."

When told of his nomination, Chauncey Durham, of Rosedon, said: "I didn't realise I made a difference. It's all in a night's work."

The judges were from a cross-section of the community, and the criteria for selecting the finalists included self-motivation, excellent attitude, accolades from others, work ethics and pride in the tourism industry.

As VIP chairwoman Barbara O'Shaughnessy emphasised that every finalist was a winner, and several of the awardees acknowledged the calibre of the other nominees.