Here’s a category-by-category breakdown of Washington’s top events of 2009.

The CharityWorks Dream Ball (Photo by Kyle Samperton)

BEST A-LIST EVENT
Cafritz-Jordan Inauguration party at the Fairfax Hotel at Embassy Row

BEST PARTY YOU’VE NEVER HEARD ABOUT

UN Foundation events with Queen Rania, Ted Turner, and Usher (Photos here)

BEST BOOK PARTY
Celebrating Vernon Jordan’s Make it Plain at David and Katherine Bradley’s house (Photos Here)

HARDEST INVITE TO COME BY
The Kennedy Center Honors (Coverage Here)

ULTIMATE POWER DINNER
CharityWorks 100 Point Wine Dinner (Photos Here)

BEST GIFT BAGS
French-American Cultural Dinner

MOST EXCLUSIVE UNDER-40 FÊTE
WL’s Young & The Guest List Party (Photos Here)

MOST MEDIA POWER
Huffington Post Inauguration Party (WLTV Video Here)

MOST DRAMATIC
Wolf Trap’s Ball celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (Photos here)

BEST ENTERTAINMENT
Manifest Hope Inauguration Party featuring Moby, Santogold, and De La Soul (WLTV video here)

BEST DANCING
Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s mambo at the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts’ Noche de Gala (WLTV Video Here)

SEXIEST CROWD
Corcoran Fall Fête (Coverage and WTLV video here)

BEST FASHION EVENT
All Access Fashion at Tysons Galleria (WLTV video coverage here)

BEST BOYS’ NIGHT OUT
Fight Night (coverage and WLTV video here)

MOST INSPIRATIONAL
Human Rights Campaign Dinner Vital Voices (Coverage and WLTV video)

BEST YOUNG PHILANTHROPIC EVENT
The L’Enfant Society’s Ball on the Mall (photos here)

BEST DÉCOR
The Meridian Ball (photos here)

MOST LAVISH SILENT AUCTION
The Lombardi Gala (photos here)

BEST FOOD AND WINE
Joan Hisaoka “Make a Difference” Gala
March of Dimes Signature Chef ’s Auction (photos here)

MOST “POLLYWOOD”
Bloomberg/Vanity Fair White House Correspondent’s Association Dinner after-party at the French Embassy Residence (coverage here)

BEST ART EVENT
The Meyerhoff Collection dinner with Jasper Johns, Ellworth Kelly, and Frank Stella

 

 

Eric Zinterhofer and Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer.

Location: State Department Diplomatic Reception Rooms

WL EXCLUSIVE: Photos by Mary Hilliard

HIGH HONORS: More arts grandees than ever showed up for FAPE this year, and no wonder – with first-time host Hillary Rodham Clinton greeting guests and Supremo culture maven Justice Stephen Breyer receiving the first Leonore and Walter Annenberg Award for Diplomacy through the Arts, who could resist? ARTISTIC PRESENCE: Four of the most notable living American artists – Frank Stella, Ellsworth Kelly, James Rosenquist, and Jamie Wyeth – added to the buzz along with the unveiling of Dorothea Rockburne’s mural in honor of Gen. Colin Powell for the U.S. Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica, and a print by Vija Celmins donated to FAPE’s Original Print Collection.