Forty nominations were received from across the industry internationally and these were narrowed down to a shortlist of eight finalists for our distinguished panel of judges to review. The judges for this year's awards were: Sebastian Frost, Alan Jacobi, Tim Mills, Nick Pain, Richard Pilbrow, Lee Rose, Artie Siccardi, and Josh Weisberg.
The judges panel was chaired by Mike Wood, who said prior to announcing the winners, "A Rock Our World Award takes a look at the big picture and tries to reflect the effect a technology, a product, a project, an installation, or a production has not only on our own small world of entertainment technology, but also to the world at large."
The judges were given free rein to select as many or as few winners as rocked their world, and the winners were:
GBLOCK from Gallagher Staging and Productions
Mike Wood stated, "The judges were in complete agreement that this deceptively simple device was just brilliant and fills a sorely needed niche in production. As Alan Jacobi said, this was a 'why didn't I think of that?' product."
Royal Opera House Muscat recognizing Theatre Projects Consultants
The judges were particularly impressed by this project that manages to combine elegance and tradition with reconfigurability and modern technology and actually make it all work.
The Olympics Opening Ceremonies
This was an instant and well-deserved winner. The production values and spectacle were second to none. As Lee Rose said during the judging call, "It definitely rocked my world."
This year, for the first time, the judges decided to award an Honorable Mention for the TiMax SoundHub and TiMax Tracker from OutBoard. Judge Sebastian Frost noted, "The go to product of my choice for any live reinforcement application."
Congratulations to all winners! Now it's time to keep your eye out for what rocks your world in the coming year. Nominations will open next spring.
(Jim Evans)
