Knight of Illumination Awards USA winners revealed
- Details
The event, which took place at The Joint in The Hard Rock Hotel on Friday, 22 November, saw almost 400 industry professionals celebrate the creative talents of lighting and video designers.
Following an indoor drone display courtesy of Verity Studios, 26 designers were "knighted" for their work on productions in the Theatre, Live for Broadcast and Concert Touring & Events categories. These awards were followed by the presentation of the Paky Lifetime Recognition Award created by co-headline sponsor Claypaky.
The 2019 KOI-USA winners are as follows:
Theatre
The Notch Award for Projection Design: Roma Flowers for A Bon Coeur
The ETC Award for Dance: Brandon Stirling Baker for Reflections
The Altman Lighting Award for Plays (Small Venue): Reza Behjat for Nina Simone: Four Women
The Altman Lighting Award for Plays (Large Venue): Natasha Katz for Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
The ACT Lighting Award for Opera: Josh Epstein for Ellen West
The Rosco Award for Musicals (Small Venue): Christina Watanabe for The Wild Party
The PRG Award for Musicals (Large Venue): Bradley King for Hadestown
Live for Broadcast
The Vari-Lite Award for Award Shows: Jon Kusner for Billboard Music Awards 2019
The Green Hippo Award for Digital Content: Drew Findley for Breakthrough Prize Awards 2018
The ARRI Award for Unscripted Series: Oscar Dominguez for The Voice Season 16
The Astera Award for Live Performance Special (Non Music): Steve Brill & Monica Rose for Funeral of Former President George H.W. Bush
The Ayrton Award for Live Performance Special (Music): Joshua Hutchings for Amazon Prime Day Concert
Concert Touring & Events
The MA Lighting Award for Club: Steven Douglas for Hozier Wasteland, Baby!
The SGM Lighting Award for Corporate Event Lighting: 59 Productions for Apollo 50: Go for the Moon
The disguise Award for Concert Video Content: Michael Figge & Ryan Chung for Lady Gaga Enigma Las Vegas Residency
The GLP Award for Arena: Baz Halpin for Taylor Swift reputation Stadium Tour
The LMG Touring Award for Corporate Event Video Content: 59 Productions for Apollo 50: Go for the Moon
The Robert Juliat Award for Festival/One-off Lighting: Bruno Poet & Richard White for Björk's Cornucopia
The Elation Award for Stage Lighting: Nick Whitehouse, Dom Smith, Tony Caporale, Erik Andersen & Brian Vaughan for Billie Eilish When We All Fall Asleep World Tour
The Paky Lifetime Recognition Award was awarded to projection designer Wendall K. Harrington. Hailed as "the godmother of all projectors" by John Simon in New York magazine, Harrington has worked on live events, theatre, dance, and opera since the 1970s. She has designed for Broadway, including All The Way, Driving Miss Daisy, and Grey Gardens, with concert work including The Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense, and Pete Townshend's Psychoderelict, as well as tours for Chris Rock and Simon & Garfunkel.
Ellen Lampert-Greaux, KOI-USA committee member, comments: "Harrington forged her way onto stages when projection technology was still in its infancy, yet nothing deterred her from her quest for quality and innovation. She inspired the next generation of projection designers and continues to inspire as an educator at Yale School of Drama, where she is the head of the projection design concentration."
(Jim Evans)
