Hawaii, Oahu, Honolulu and several isle resorts and hotel companies have made a big splash among nominees for TravelAge West's WAVE Awards for 2010. WAVE stands for Western Agents' Votes of Excellence.

Hawaii-based Aston Hotels & Resorts and Outrigger Hotels & Resorts are nominated alongside Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, Marriott International, Sandals and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide as providing the best travel agent support.

Hawaii is up for Best Destination for a Honeymoon or Romance Vacation, as are Jamaica, Mexico and Tahiti.

Oahu is competing against Las Vegas, San Francisco and Orlando, Fla., to be named Destination with the Highest Client Satisfaction (in the) U.S.A. And in a category called Best of the West: Best City for a Foodie Vacation, the nominees are Honolulu; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Portland, Ore.; and San Francisco.

Three categories are all about Hawaii.

Nominees for Best New Resort or Major Renovation are Kahala Hotel & Resort, Outrigger Reef on the Beach and Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Oahu; Mauna Kea Resort on the Big Island; and Koa Kea Hotel & Resort on Kauai.

Best Luxury Resort nominees are Halekulani and the Kahala Hotel & Resort on Oahu; Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea and the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua on Maui; and the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on the Big Island.

Contestants for Best Resort for a Romance Vacation are Halekulani, Hotel Hana-Maui and, on Kauai, Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa, Hanalei Colony Resort and Waimea Plantation Cottages.

Best Tour Operator, Hawaii, contenders are All About Hawaii, Apple Vacations, Blue Sky Tours, Classic Vacations and Pleasant Holidays, also a nominee for Tour Operator Providing the Best Travel Agent Support.

Travel agents in the western U.S. will vote, and winners will be announced at a black-tie gala June 10.

James Beard nods

Two restaurants and five culinarians in Hawaii have been honored as semifinalists for the 2010 James Beard Foundation Chef and Restaurant Awards.

Alan Wong's is up for Outstanding Restaurant, and La Mer at Halekulani for Outstanding Service. Colin Hazama of the Kauai Grill at the St. Regis Princeville on Kauai is a nominee for Rising Star Chef of the Year, while Cherie Pascua of Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas is up for Outstanding Pastry Chef.

Among 10 regional categories for Best Chef, Kevin Chong of Chef Mavro, Hiroshi Fukui of Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas and Bev Gannon of Joe's in Wailea are nominated for the Pacific region, comprising Hawaii and California.

Hawaii also had seven semifinalists last year, but a panel of 400 judges had wiped the final list of nominees clean of any Hawaii contenders upon its March release.

Hawaii had four semifinalists in 2008 but no finalists.

The foundation has not named a Hawaii chef as best in region since George Mavrothalassitis won in 2003. Before that, Alan Wong won in '96 and Roy Yamaguchi won in '93.

Local favorite eateries have won JBF's “;America's Classics”; awards, including Helena's Hawaiian Foods in 2000, Sam Choy's Kaloko in 2004 and Hamura's Saimin Stand in 2006. There were no Hawaii nominees for the honor this year, so we must keep our chopsticks crossed for this year's Hawaii semifinalists.

JBF will announce this year's finalists March 22.

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Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Reach her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).