The Knight of Illumination (KOI) executive committee has come to the decision to postpone the 13th annual awards ceremony and gala dinner due to the ongoing Coronavirus crisis and the enormous implications it is having on the entertainment industry.
A statement from co-founders Durham and Jennie Marenghi on behalf of the KOI committee reads as follows:
“The Knight of Illumination committee has taken the considered decision that this year’s KOI Awards ceremony will not be held on 6 September as planned, due to the uncertainty of the times in which we now live. The event will be held as a celebration of our industry and to bring people together, once the current situation has been resolved and it is safe to do so.
“Meanwhile, we will continue to appraise the work already submitted and we ask designers to please continue to nominate via the KOI website. We are all watching more TV than usual, so please submit anything outstanding that catches your eye, and to those Concert and Events lighting designers and video content creators now stuck at home, we invite you to submit your finest work this year before the closing date of 30 June 2020 and if you have videos/photos to review.
“Further announcements on the Awards ceremony will follow in the coming months as the situation hopefully improves. Stay safe and we will come together once more as Knights of Illumination once this worldwide battle has been fought and won.”
KOI has been a connected hub for the entertainment technology industry for more than a decade, bringing the community together to celebrate the achievements of lighting and video designers across the sectors of Television, Theatre, and Concert & Events, and it plans to remain as such throughout the course of this year and beyond.
Given the large number of productions postponed and cancelled over the upcoming months and the impact that is having on the industry, the committee feels it would be unwise for KOI to choose to proceed with a conventional KOI ceremony. The ceremony revolves entirely around our community of creative individuals, and also relies on sponsorship from businesses, and both groups are already being and will continue to be drastically affected by this unprecedented situation.
Though the ceremony will not take place in the traditional sense, KOI aims to continue to celebrate the achievements and raise the profile of the creatives in the industry, and to this end, it will endeavour to host an alternative event at a later date.
