Five gold, five silver, one bronze and three highly commended awards were given to Eurobodalla operators at the South Coast Tourism Awards Night. 

The outstanding contribution to tourism award was taken out by Bob Carver of Lakesea Park and Clyde River Park. 

The annual prestigious awards take in an area from Helensburgh in the north to Eden in the south. 

Gold awards were given to Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Gardens, Ngaran Ngaran Tours Narooma, South Coast Cheese, Tilba, The Original Gold Rush Colony, and the Eurobodalla River of Art festival. 

The Original Gold Rush Colony, Mogo Zoo, Edgewater Gardens Batemans Bay, Bodalla Cheese Factory and Bodalla Dairy Shed Maloney’s Beach Cafe and Cellars and Batemans Bay Manor took out silver awards. 

A bronze award was given to Big4 Broulee Beach Holiday Park and highly commended awards were given to South Coast Seaplanes,  Broulee Surf School and Mogendoura Farm.  

Lakesea Park and Lincoln Downs Resort and Spa were finalists in the awards.

Eurobodalla River of Art volunteer Megan Fraser was overwhelmed with the win. 

“We are so excited,” she said. 

“All of the community came together to put on this great 10-day event.

“It is fantastic.”

Ms Fraser thanked all of the volunteers for doing such a great job in organising the festival. 

“I would like to thank all of our volunteers for doing such a great job,” she said.

“It is purely volunteer run. 

“We know we have a really good product.” 

Ms Fraser said the festival stood out to judges because of its local content. 

“It is a local festival, which is generated by local talent,” she said. 

“River of Art is about showcasing locally and to visitors how creative, talented and inspiring local artists are.

“We are getting a lot of support and congratulations from all the businesses that helped us.”

Eurobodalla Shire Council tourism manager Catherine Riley said the awards reminded everyone how fantastic the South Coast was. 

“These awards show the variety of tourism experiences you can have on the south coast,” she said. 

“They say to anyone who is reading about the coast, ‘wow there is so much to do there’. 

“It is important for the Eurobodalla to be able to showcase excellence and every year we do extremely well at the awards.”

Mrs Riley said tourism businesses along the coast worked together to get good results.

“We are absolutely delighted with the gardens award,” she said. 

“It acknowledges the wonderful friends of the gardens volunteers and the relationship between council and the community.”