Richmond —

The Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association has named the first two winners of its 2026 Ordinary Awards.

Mark Yardis, vice president of operations at Shamin Hotels, receives the Golden Pineapple Lifetime Achievement Award. Yardis has been in hospitality more than forty years, starting behind bars in New York while still in high school, moving to Virginia in 1987, and spending nearly two decades at Shamin. VRLTA president Eric Terry said Yardis “has devoted his career to serving guests, developing hospitality professionals and supporting our industry.”

Shamin is one of the larger operators in the Commonwealth: 82 hotels across Virginia, New York, Maryland, North Carolina and Florida, with 28 more in development, run from Richmond.

Sen. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D) is Legislator of the Year.

The detail worth getting right

Bennett-Parker introduced HB 975 on January 13 as a delegate, representing House District 5 in Alexandria. She won a Senate special election on February 10, taking 81.2% of a 7,254-vote turnout to succeed Adam Ebbin, who left to advise the Cannabis Control Authority. She has represented Senate District 39 since, covering Alexandria and parts of Arlington and Fairfax.

So the bill was carried in the House by Delegate Bennett-Parker and finished by Senator Bennett-Parker, who changed chambers while it was moving. It passed the House 87-10 on February 12, the Senate 36-3 on February 24, and was signed April 13.

HB 975 is the food-to-beverage rewrite: the flat 45% requirement replaced with tiers keyed to monthly food sales, no ratio at all above $48,000, and a new rule matching table seats to counter seats. It took effect July 1 and it is the most consequential change to Virginia mixed beverage licensing in years. Virginia ABC has to report implementation data back to the General Assembly by November 1, 2027, and that report will decide what comes next.

Whatever else the award recognizes, that is the bill behind it.

The rest of the program

Only these two are public. VRLTA’s 2026 program runs to 26 individual and organizational awards across four categories, and the remaining winners are announced at the ceremony.

Two are new this year and were decided by public vote, which closed August 16: New Restaurant of the Year and New Lodging Property of the Year.

The finalist categories include Restaurant of the Year, the Jim Wordsworth Award for Restaurateur of the Year, Chef of the Year, Bartender of the Year, Brewery, Winery and Distillery of the Year, Hotelier of the Year, Lodging Property of the Year, Attraction of the Year, Campground of the Year, Supplier of the Year, the Rising Pineapple Award for a hospitality student, and the Virginia ProStart Teacher of the Year.

The ceremony is Tuesday, September 15, 5:30 to 9:00 p.m., at the Hilton Richmond Hotel & Spa in Short Pump. Registration closed September 1.

We will file the full winners list.