Last year the judges were so impressed with the standard of entries that, in an unprecedented move, they agreed to present two runner-up prizes of £250 each, in addition to the first prize of £500. Judge Mark White, ETC's UK regional manager for UK and Ireland, said: "I had no hesitation in saying that ETC would augment the main prize with a further £250 for each of the two runners up and am pleased to confirm that ETC will be doing the same this year. The level of work we saw last year was of the highest calibre and it is only right that we should encourage students to follow the high standards set by Michael in his lifetime."
The Bursary was set up by Michael following his MBE in 2001; sadly, he passed away shortly after, but his memory lives on through the bursary. Michael was a founding member and later President of the Association of Lighting Designers, as well as being widely credited as being Britain's first lighting designer. The award is judged on a project that the student has produced within the previous year.
Applicants are asked to submit work showing the development and processes of a successfully realised lighting design performance project. Materials such as photographs, storyboards, plans and anything else the student feels appropriate can be submitted, along with a 500-word synopsis of the project detailing the processes in realising the lighting design. The project must be a performance based lighting design in or out of college or university. The entries will be judged by a panel of industry professionals, which last year included Rick Fisher, Mark White, James Whiteside and Bryan Raven.
It is emphasised that this bursary is a design bursary and that the judges are not looking for wonderful project management or equipment lists, but rather imagination in design and creativity in lighting. The bursary is open to all students and not just ALD members and the winner and runners' up work will be displayed on the ALD stand at the PLASA show, Earls Court in September.
(Lee Baldock)
