TAO Group's Andy Cotton said: "There are a number of superb awards events in the calendar including the TPi Awards, NOEA Awards and the TESA Event Awards, some of which we as a company have been honoured to win. The idea of these awards was to recognise the work of the stage builders, truck drivers, humpers and all the other disciplines required to make an event happen. We wanted to award the 'blood, sweat and tears' of the workers on TAO events as opposed to the companies, as without these people events don't happen."
The awards were hosted by Ian Sandy and presented by various industry personalities including Beats International Singer Lindy Layton, actress Michelle Gale, footballer Fraser Digby, The Marques of Abergavenny, Commitments movie actors Kenneth McCluskey & Dick Massey and celebrity fitness guru Angie Best. The awards were sponsored by Fineline Lighting, TAO Group, Powerline, WGS Power, Major Tom Sound, Serious Stages, A Plant, Rugbi Corporate Clothing, Safe & Sound Security, FAST and Fonix AV.
The TAO Awards 2008 winners included Denis Cole of Serious Stages, Derek Fuller of Powerline, Gareth Lewis (on tour with Steve Coogan), Nic Ayres of High Resolution Lighting, Dave 'Chips' Baker, Chris Fitzgerald of A Plant, Ben Price and Peter Brightman , CEO of The Creative Entertainment Group.
(Jim Evans)
