Knight of Illumination (KOI) Awards is powering up in preparation for its tenth anniversary event this September. Billed as the ultimate showcase of lighting and video design achievement in the UK, the Awards is already receiving nominations in lighting and video design as international creatives and industry supporters push to see their favourite works of 2016/17 take home a KOI sword this landmark year.
The Awards’ Television and Concert Touring & Events categories are now open for nominations of lighting and video design work performed or broadcast in the UK between the 1st August 2016 and 31st June 2017. Anyone is eligible to submit a show they feel worthy of recognition and lighting and video designers, including international designers who have worked on shows in the UK, are encouraged to self-nominate. Entries can be made via the official KOI website, www.knight-of-illumination.com.
As with previous years, nominations for the Theatre category can only be submitted by the KOI judging panel. The Awards’ shortlists will be announced in August.
Lighting designer Tobias G Rylander, who won a 2016 award for his design for The 1975, says: “Winning a KOI award gave me a huge feeling of accomplishment and provided me with invaluable recognition across the industry. As well as recognising designers, the Awards create a space where creatives can open conversations with manufacturers, production designers and developers of technical equipment and form professional connections across the sector.”
With a decade of bringing together lighting and video designers from across the globe, the KOI Awards remains the most prestigious celebration of lighting and video talent in the UK. This year the awards dinner and ceremony will return to the Art Deco brilliance of the Eventim Apollo, London on the 17th of September.
“Knowing how the KOI judging is put together makes winning a KOI award mean a great deal,” said triple sword-winner Nigel Catmur, (Mercury Music Prize (2008), The Royal Variety Performance (2012), Young Dancer Competition (2015). “As the KOI judges are all experts working within the entertainment technology and arts industries, they are able to meaningfully scrutinize work – making any accolade from them praise indeed.”
In addition to the Television, Theatre, Concert Touring & Events categories, each year The Enrico Caironi Award for Lifetime Recognition is presented to an individual whose passion for the industry has gone above and beyond the call of duty, in turn benefitting their colleagues, the industry and the wider world.
Last year’s winner, author and editor of Entertainment Technology and ET Now, John Offord said: “It is hugely important to me to have won a Lifetime Recognition Award at KOI, with the award I join the eight previous recipients and I treasure being part of their club.”
The KOI Awards was conceived in 2007 by Italian entertainment lighting manufacturer Claypaky, now Headline Sponsor of the event in association with parent company OSRAM, and was represented at that time by Enrico Caironi alongside renowned international lighting designer Durham Marenghi and his wife Jennie who remain coordinators of the Awards.
Prestigious industry organisations the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) and the Society of Television Lighting and Design (STLD) bring together the judging of the Theatre and Television categories respectively.
The event’s production, management, marketing and communications are coordinated by entertainment technology PR and content production specialist, The Fifth Estate Ltd.
Each year the Awards is sponsored and supported by top names in entertainment technology, Pio Nahum, CEO of Claypaky said: “KOI is a true pan industry event that is proudly supported by almost all of the major businesses operating in entertainment lighting and video technology. The 2016 awards was supported by more than forty sponsors and partners who unified to celebrate the outstanding creative talent of lighting and video designers working in the UK.”
To find out more about the sectors and subcategories or information on how you can submit an entry for Television or Concert Touring & Events please visit
www.knight-of-illumination.com/categories.