Held at Sydney Town Hall on Sunday 9 July 2001, the twenty-sixth annual Mo Award dinner honoured excellence in Australian live performance. This bronze award for Special Event of the Year paid tribute to the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. David Atkins received the award as Artistic Director of the Opening Ceremony and on behalf of the Olympic Coordinating Authority (OCA). The accompanying dinner invitation and program document the night's proceedings and Atkins' attendance at the event.

Cast in bronze, the trophy was made by Sydney company, Sports Awards, and was modelled upon a statuette of Australian comic singer and dancer, Mo MacCackie. A German sculptor, Helmut Fischer, designed the statuette, its image also appearing on both the invitation and the program. The trophy includes a wooden plinth and a black engraved plaque referring to the category, Special Event of the Year, and the category's sponsor, Aristocrat Technologies Australia.

The Mo Awards were inaugurated in 1976 to recognise excellence in Australian live performance, including classical music, rock, jazz, opera, comedy, theatre and dance. Their namesake, Mo MacCackie (Roy Rene, 1892-1954), was an accomplished singer and dancer and an icon of Australian entertainment. From 1916 to 1950, MacCackie was Australia's most cherished vaudevillian figure, starring on both the Fuller and Tivoli Circuits and in drama, film and on radio. His painted clown-like face, tattered suit, top hat and spats (part of a Jewish characterisation) are now depicted on the Mo Awards, which are made in platinum, silver and bronze. (The platinum award, the highest accolade, pays tribute to the Australian Performer of the Year; the silver awards honour distinct performance categories, such as comedy, theatre and dance; and the bronze awards recognise unique achievements or contributions to performance. Expert panellists select the winners over two rounds of voting.)

In 2001, the Mo Awards featured a new bronze award in the category of Special Event of the Year. This paid special tribute to the opening and closing ceremonies for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games that took place some nine months before. Combing musicians, singers, dancers, performers as well as directors, conductors, designers, composers and many other creative people, the Opening Ceremony for the Olympic Games showcased the diversity of Australian talent. Performed for more than two hours and across a space of 23,000 square metres, the Opening Ceremony reflected many elements of the history and culture of Australia.

The bronze statuette was designed by German sculptor, Helmut Fischer, and was modelled upon Australian comic singer and dancer, Mo MacCackie.

The Mo Award was made by Sydney company, Sports Awards, in 2001. It includes a cast bronze statuette, a wooden base and a plastic plaque.

The Mo Award for Special Event of the Year was presented to David Atkins at the at annual Mo Award dinner on Sunday 9 July 2001. It pays tribute to the Opening Ceremony for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

This Mo Award was received by David Atkins on behalf of the Olympic Coordinating Authority (OCA) on 9 July 2001. In 2002, the OCA donated the award and associated invitation and program to the Powerhouse Museum.

Mo Award, Special Event of the Year, Olympic Games, Sydney, 2000 Opening Ceremony, bronze/ wood/plastic, made by Sports Awards, Sydney 2001, statuette designed by Helmut Fisher, Germany, presented to David Atkins, Sydney Town Hall, 9 July 2001

'Mo' Award, program and invitation. The award consists of a bronze statuette that is a 3 dimensional representation of Vaudeville performer Roy Rene as his character 'MO' McCackie mounted on a wooden base. The program is gloss cardboard and paper, 30 pages. The cover features a picture of a 'MO' award on a brown background. The invitation is gloss paper featuring a brown background with a picture of a 'MO' award in the bottom right corner. Yellow text 'Entertainment Industry Fundraiser / In Aid of / The 'MO' Benevolent Fund'.

Made: 2000

2001/84/581

2000