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PLASA 07 Innovation Awards

The 2007 PLASA Awards for Innovation, announced recently in a special presentation ceremony at the PLASA Show, reflect the ever-more dynamic, diverse and creative health of the global entertainment and installation technology industries.

Sponsored by Lighting & Sound International magazine, the Awards attracted 65 products from 10 different countries this year, covering a broad range of lighting, audio, rigging & staging, AV, effects, software and accessories – amply reflecting the industry's diversity and global nature. 'The energy, ideas and innovation that feature at PLASA start from the imaginative minds that make up the industry," said PLASA CEO Matthew Griffiths. "The talent in this business is formidable, and it's that talent that we're celebrating."

During the ceremony, attended by special guests from across the industry, eight awards were presented. These went to:

beyerdynamic (GB) Ltd – Headzone

Beyerdynamic's Headzone is the world's first professional, portable 5.1 surround sound headphone monitoring system and features ultrasonic Headtracking and Binaural Acoustic Modelling. The product will bring more flexibility to content producers, enabling them to create the perfect 5.1 studio.

ETC (Electronic Theatre Controls) – Eos

Eos is ETC's most advanced lighting control system, designed to handle complex, multimedia filled lighting rigs. It allows multiple programmers to work on the same show file, comes with either 8,000 or 4,000 outputs and will provide an excellent user interface for both programmers and designers.

Fuzion pic – Coemar Infinity Wash XL

Coemar's latest moving-head is an extremely bright, automated washlight with a revolutionary colour mixing system, radical zoom range and an integrated effects wheel for stunning beams and projection. Its output can be varied from 800W to 1400W via DMX and the patented CMY-S colour mixing system produces colours never seen before on a moving head.

Litec Sri – EXE-Lodestar 650C1 + Datalogge

The EXE-Lodestar electric chain hoists, conceived in association with Columbus McKinnon, have independent on-board intelligence that governs and controls operation and safety functions. Control via external console units is optional: EXE-Lodestar is self-sufficient. This is a product that will advance safety in a very neat package.

Marquee Audio – Revolabs Solo Executive

The Revolabs Solo Executive wireless microphone system is a board room-friendly, flexible cost-effective solution to audio conferencing. Available with either four or eight channels, Solo Executive connects seamlessly to a telephone system and other A V conferencing equipment and can be easily managed from the room.

Protonic Software Corp – easy job 4.0

Easy job rental and sales management software was developed by rental and staging professionals and is based on the latest Microsoft.NET technology. Its contemporary look and feel makes it easy to learn and navigate a wide variety of features, and there's built-in integration with office programmes. In addition, its entry-level price point makes it an attractive option.

Unusual Rigging – The Revolution Winch

The Revolution winch fits standard 52cm x 52cm truss and travels in conventional flightcases. A comprehensive accessories and diverter kit enables it to be included within truss runs, mothergrids and truss legs, with the wire leaving the unit at the required angle. The design allows for single or multiple use within truss runs at 3m per second with a 300kg safe working load.

Vertigo Rigging Ltd – Vertex

Billed as 'the only simple to operate, joystick-operated 3D flying system' Vertex is designed and engineered to fly people, cameras and objects across large areas in real-time without complicated programming. This is a product that is easy to implement and features an intuitive user interface with simple drag-and-drop set-up.

The money raised from the entry fees had been presented earlier in the day to a number of industry-connected charities: the Vision Charity, Starlight Children's Foundation, the Mary Hare School and Shooting Star Children's Hospice.

The Awards for Innovation were followed by a further special award – the Gottelier Award – introduced this year in memory of the leading designer Tony Gottelier, who died in 2006. Following an open industry nomination process, the Award was presented to British loudspeaker designer Tony Andrews, founder of Turbosound and co-founder of Funktion One.

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PLASA 07 Innovation Awards

12th September 2007

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