Now in its 21st year, the annual MAX Awards recognise Australia's leading individuals and organisations in the financial services industry for their creative, innovative and effective sales and marketing campaigns that delivered increased engagement, conversation and ROI.

Click here to view the full list of winners and finalists.

The 2016 MAX Awards featured 18 categories that reflect the evolving sales and marketing landscape, including: Video Campaign of the Year, Social Media Campaign of the Year and Innovation of the Year.

Among the night's highlights were the awards for best Integrated Campaign, Digital Campaign, Investment Product and Product Launch of the Year.

It was a dual celebration for State Street Global Advisors, with 'Advertising Campaign of the Year' and the group's marketing manager Sara Stacey winning 'Marketer of the Year'.

Meanwhile, Ben Williams from Lazard Asset Management took home the prestigious 'Sales Executive of the Year' award.

For the first time, Financial Standard also introduced two new categories, reflecting the importance of collaboration and diversity in today's markets, namely Marketing Team of the Year, won by Perpetual Investments and Sales Team of the Year, which was awarded to UBS Asset Management.

Zurich Australia clinched the highly-contested category 'Website of the Year' while leading platform provider netwealth took home 'Integrated Campaign of the Year'.

"Financial Standard is proud to recognise and honour the winners of this year's awards for their outstanding achievements and dedication to the financial advice and investment community," said Christopher Page, group managing director of Financial Standard.

"Their commitment to innovation can only mean better products and services to the broader investing public," he said.

"We congratulate the winners and finalists of this year's MAX Awards for all their hard work and for continually setting the bar higher each year. The accolades are well deserved and we hope that they continue to spearhead investor-centric initiatives that are world-class, highly relevant and innovative," said Michelle Baltazar, director of media and publisher.

More than 200 financial services professionals attended the awards dinner held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney last week (Thursday, June 23). The event was hosted by comedian and TV personality Peter Berner with guest entertainers, 'The Three Waiters'.

Click here to view the full list of winners and finalists.