2015 AVIA WINNERS ANNOUNCED

The professional audiovisual industry gathered last night at the conclusion of Day 1 of Integrate for drinks, nibbles (thanks to InfoComm International) and a celebration of the region’’s finest work. This year’’s Audio Visual Industry Awards (AVIAs) winners were a mix of old hands and fresh faces, and as ever represented the full gamut of pro AV disciplines. This year’’s awards were sponsored by Samsung.

Best Application of AV in a Commercial or Government

Winner: Parity Technology Consulting

Project: Library at The Dock for Melbourne City Council.

Judges’’ Comments: The judging panel see this project as representing everything that good AV is about. Parity worked very closely with the client from the very earliest stages of the project to achieve the integration of appropriate technologies into a facility that provides innovative and useful applications for Melbourne’’s inner city community.

Best Application of AV in Education with a budget exceeding $500,000

Winner: Umow Lai

Project: Jeffrey Smart Building at UniSA.

Judges’’ Comments: This innovative project has been built from the ground up to incorporate innovations in both the architectural and academic environment through the uses of a range of AV technologies in both the teaching spaces and the entire student connection and interaction with the building. The judges were not surprised to learn that the success of this project is leading to the rollout of these approaches into the refurbishment’s existing buildings and to the planning for future projects.

Best Application of AV in Education with a budget under $500,000

Winner: InDesign Technologies

Project: University of the Sunshine Coast’’s Learning and Teaching Hub –Tiered Teaching Space.

Judges’’ Comments: The judges consider this project to be a step into the future learning as it is having a profound impact on the technical, academic and student practices at USC. They commend the creation of both a practical and enjoyable space to undertake the processes of blended collaborative learning. They were pleased to hear that the facility is now in such high demand that further projects are being planned to emulate this successful approach to teaching and learning. 

Best Application of AV in an Exhibition or Display

Winner: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarew

Project: Gallipoli – Scale of Our War exhibition.

Judges’’ Comments: The judges were deeply impressed with the way AV is used in subtle and engaging ways to tell a moving story. Many aspects of the AV were essentially invisible to audiences in the way they integrate with the material and the objects in the exhibition. The powerful impact of this exhibition is sweeping away all previous attendance figures for museums in NZ and is having a profound influence on the population’’s understanding of the impact of the Great War and of armed conflict in general.

Best Application of AV in a Production

Winner: 32 Hundred Lighting

Project: Paint the Town & Harbour Bridge lighting at Vivid Sydney.

Judges’’ Comments: The judges were impressed with the immense scale of the projects across vast areas of the Sydney harbour precinct covered by a complex network of predominantly wireless lighting control to achieve spectacular and innovative live and interactive applications blending coloured lightscapes and audience engagement. 

Two additional Judges’’ commendations were made on the night: 

An Award for Innovation in AV went to Gilfillan Soundwork and Steensen Varming for their innovative approach to the Roll of Honour lighting and sound system at Australian War Memorial in the ACT. Once again the judging panel was impressed by the detailed and innovative approach to resolving what to most of us appears to be an intractable problem.

A Judges’ Commendation for Project Excellence was awarded to Rutledge AV for its work on the digital vision upgrade for the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. The judges were impressed with the management and engineering expertise required to successfully bring off a project of such scale and difficulty in an operating venue.