The winners of the 2021 PLASA Awards for Innovation were announced last night at PLASA Show as it made its return to Olympia London. The Awards, run association with LSi Magazine, are respected industry-wide for celebrating pioneering technology, through new materials or methods that increase safety, efficiency or performance.
29 products were entered this year, with six awards being presented in addition to two special commendations. This year’s judging team comprised of nine independent technical specialists from a wide array of backgrounds. Their comments, along with the winning products, are listed below:
Astera: PixelBrick
The Judges said “this is not just another battery uplighter, but a well-engineered and thought-out lighting system augmented with a wide set of accessories.” They felt it would allow designers a greater degree of creativity in lighting applications.
CHAUVET Professional: Maverick Silens 2
The engineering within this near-silent moving light impressed the broad nature of the judging panel. They simply said this product is the sound designer’s favourite light!
Copper Candle: Bonestream, Copper Stream and Cue29
The Judges have chosen to award a suite of products from this boundary-pushing software developer. They felt the group of products shared the same innovative approach to merging gaming technologies into a framework engineered for the live events industry. The judges believe these products are at the forefront of the move towards virtual production in events.
EM Acoustics: R10
The Judges commend the controllable, adjustable low-mid dispersion of this product, adding that the inclusion of the different high-medium frequency flares increases the flexibility for a touring show and is a feature that has not been seen before in a speaker of this type.
Glensound: Divine
While other manufacturers have made PoE speakers, the Judges felt that the feature set and price of this product set it apart from the competition.
LANG: CarbonBlack Technology
The Judges felt that this innovative technology facilitates a high contrast and high-quality projection and will have a wide range of uses. The Judges noted that “LANG have made the best-looking projection of the show!”
The judges also commended the following products:
Apt-GB: SMVA
The Judges first impression of this product was “Why has no one done this before?” The SMVA is light, affordable and will doubtless have a range of applications, especially in the corporate market.
Blumano: StageDB – [ORA] Online Risk Assessment
The Judges felt that this software application will have a real, tangible benefit for those doing machinery risk assessments and has the potential to develop into related areas. They felt that anything that streamlines that process whilst maintaining safety standards is to be commended.