World renowned impressionist Ben Ho judged the 96 creative pieces and said he examined each of the paintings in terms of colour and motion.
"If I see a painting and it has the whole sentence without words ... that is a successful painting," he said.
More than 60 local artists and art enthusiasts attended the ceremony to view each of the paintings on display.
Local artist Barbara Glass has been Queenstown Art Society president for the past 17 years.
Through the society, she organised the inaugural celebration and said she was glad too see "enjoyment from a broad representation of local artists".
"A lot of time and effort goes into this event ... it's been a superb evening, superb art and I'm sure we'll do it all again next year," she said.
A painting by Martin Bell called Little Brown Kiwi was chosen as this year's Queenstown Art Society acquisition piece.
"Over the years, we have developed a wonderful array of acquired paintings and we really must show them off far more often than we do," Mrs Glass said.
The event marks the 48th year for the award ceremony, which has been held in the Queenstown Cloakroom Gallery every year since 1981.
The exhibition will continue until November 28.
The awards and prizes from the event are: Best of exhibition ($2000): Spike Wademan for The Photographer.
Best of contemporary ($500): Racheal Errington for Spring in the Air.
Best of traditional ($500): Brian Millard for Reflections in the Snow.
Best of chosen media ($500): Gus Watson for Michelle.
Highly commended Ivan Clarke Gallery award ($300): Jennifer Majeste for Island Girl.
Commended local artist ($300 Paper Plus voucher): Sue Wademan for The Grass is Always Greener.
Commended ($300 Framing Studio voucher): Amanda Hasselman for Room With A View.
The Collie merit award ($200): Coral Broughton for Study of Michelangelo's David head.
Merit award quality canvases (product up to $100): Nicky Paul for The Edge.
Queenstown Art Society acquisition: Martin Bell's Little Brown Kiwi.
