NEW YORK-The elite of the city's real estate industry—as well as those doing the daily heavy lifting of transactions—gathered Thursday night for the biggest event of the year, the annual Real Estate Board of New York annual banquet dinner. The topic of this year's gathering, the 117th such get-together, was East Midtown rezoning but hundreds of attendees flocked to the New York Hilton mostly to honor the 2012 award winners, the list of whom reads like a who's who of the field. Among the award recipients were: Donald Zucker, chairman and CEO, Donald Zucker Co., who received the Bernard H. Mendik Lifetime Leadership in Real Estate Award; Mike Fishman, EVP, Service Employees International Union, Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award; Dottie Herman, president and CEO, Douglas Elliman; Kenneth R. Gerrety Humanitarian Award; Woody Heller, executive managing director and group head, Capital Transactions Group at Studley, Louis Smadbeck Broker Recognition Award; Dick Concannon, SVP, Rudin Management, George M. Brooker Management Executive of the Year Award; and William Montana, managing director, Studley, Young Real Estate Man of the Year Award. Polical luminaries also rubbed shoulders with real estate's players. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Charles Schumer and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney made an appearance.