Looking for your own Place In The Sun - and need to track down the best new luxury properties in the world? Well, just keep a close eye on the International Property Awards for 2008, the Oscars of the property sector whose aim is to distinguish the highest levels of achievement in a range of real estate-related fields.

Up to 80 different nations are expected to enter this year, with the world divided into regional zones. So this year there will be separate gala awards dinners in London, New York, Geneva, Dubai, and Singapore in November.

The inaugural International Property Awards were presented in 1995, covering just ten different categories, with the first gala event in London the following year. Since then, the awards have seen an incredible growth in entries from across the globe and last year there were entries from 56 countries, establishing it as the biggest property event in the world.

Last year the Best International Property Award went to Nirvana International’s Villa Caesar development on the Turkish Riviera. Other winners ranged from Balearic specialist Matthias Kuhn’s Cielo de Bonaire, on Mallorca, to Avalanche Ranch, in Montana, which scooped Best Property in the United States.

Winners in the individual country categories included the striking Pano Lahania, on the island of Rhodes, for Best Development in Greece, and Bali’s Karma Kandara, which was judged the best in Indonesia.
The Cliffs Communities, North and South Carolina, scooped Best International Development, while Jenny Blanc Interiors’ Port Charles Apartments in Barbados won Best International Interior Design.

Over the years, major branded companies have sponsored the awards as a way of raising their profiles and making new business contacts. Jaguar, Mercedes Benz, and Bentley Motors have been prominent headline sponsors. Aston Martin supported the Arabian Property Awards in 2006 and Jack Barclay, the world's largest Bentley dealership, sponsored the UK Property Awards in 2007.

This year the awards, sponsored by CNBC and supported by the Daily Mail, New York Times, Sydney Morning Herald and Bangkok Post, are backed by America’s National Association of Realtors, largest professional real estate body in the world with 1.4 million members, and the oldest, the Master Builders Association of Australia.

Previous milestones have included 1998 gala, which was staged at the House of Commons, by which time the International Property Awards had become established as the premier programme of excellence in its field and the gala dinners had become an essential part of the property industry’s calendar.

In 2007, the grand final gala event was held at the renowned Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. Winning companies were showcased in dazzling style at the world's largest real estate professionals event, which attracted 30,000 property professionals. And this year’s five glittering gala events promise to attract even greater global interest.