Celebrations of the 30th Annual WJA Awards for Excellence were conducted with a huge gathering of industry professionals at Chelsea Piers’s PIER 60 in New York. Included amongst the 700 attendees were personalities including Varda Shine of De Beers, Helene Fortunoff, David and Sybil Yurman amongst other representatives of leading luxury brands.

The start to the function was a cocktail reception, a “Chance Auction,” and bidding for items available through CharityBuzz.com, All proceeds from the auction benefit the WJA’s Scholarship Fund, in support of the educational and professional development of young talent at many levels of the industry. This year the WJA is awarding over $30,000 in honor of the organization’s 30th anniversary.

The star winner of the evening was the Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Candy Udell, the president of London Jewelers; while the Corporate Hall of Fame Award was given to Standard Chartered Bank and Darwin Copeman, of Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company, won The Ben Kaiser Award. Top present the Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award to Udell, Nassau County District Attorney and New York State rising political star Kathleen Rice were present.

Other awards for excellence included those in the fields of retail, design, manufacturing/ supplier, sales, marketing and communications, editorial/reporting/publishing and special services.