On October 6, 2009 at 10 a.m., the annual solemn IMA award ceremony was held in the imperial premises of Hofburg Vienna during the trade fair access 2009.
The two persons honoured both are particularly committed in the fair, event and conference industries and their work has evoked a great effect on the sector in Austria.

Walter Dermuth has been part of the board of directors of Kärntner Messen Klagenfurt since 36 years. As a very active president, he was primarily responsible for making Kärntner Messen one of the most important fairgrounds in the region. The informative and appealing honorific speech for Mr Dermuth was held by long-time companion and colleague Johann Jungreithmair, Chairman of MA - Messen Austria and CEO of Reed Companies Austria (Reed Messe Wien and Salzburg).
Mr Jungreithmair underlined the many experiences Mr Dermuth was able to gain during his career. He has actively shaped the economic process in Carinthia by holding different positions in politics and economics – he was an entrepreneur and hotelier as well as vice mayor of Klagenfurt. Besides that, his wife, children and grandchildren have always played an important role in his life.

Christoph Berndl, chief editor of the magazine "Messe & Event", started his career as an actor and musician. As Leslie P.C. Zech, Speaker of the Board of I.M.Austria, stated in his honorific speech, Mr Berndl then changed sector completely and began to work for the publishing house Bohmann Verlag. Within a short time, he managed to make “Messe & Event” the leading magazine of the industry in Austria by broadening the contents and raising quality of what was formerly called “Messe Markt”. Furthermore, he and his team founded a series of events called “Branchentalk” which has become a popular meeting point for the sector.
Although „Messe & Event“ this year celebrates its 25th anniversary, Christoph Berndl and the whole editorial staff look into an active future – the new online portal of Messe & Event promises to be the next highlight of the sector.
Christoph Berndl received the IMA award as a representative of the whole editorial staff that is responsible for the success.

After the ceremony, the awarded persons had intensive talks with the many guests and professionals at the booth of I.M. Austria.