The shortlist of nominees is generated from invited suggestions from a panel consisting of PLASA team members, PLASA Regional Board & Governing Body members, regular contributors to LSi and LSA magazines, and past winners of the Gottelier Award.
All PLASA Members and pre-registered visitors to PLASA 2013 are eligible to vote, and will receive an email inviting them to place their vote at the PLASA Show website. Voting closes on Friday 20 September and the winner will be announced at the PLASA Show on Monday 7 October.
2013 Nominees:
Jim Bornhorst
The man who pioneered the moving light, Jim Bornhorst is widely considered the father of the modern show lighting fixture. Setting out to improve the efficiency of PAR Can rigs by creating a "gel changer" he and his team instead created the first Vari-Lite - the prototype VL0 - complete with integrated dichroic colour mixing. With the support of Genesis, the first moving light rig was seen in Barcelona in 1981, and the rest, as they say, is history. Bornhorst continues to make an impact on the concert touring market: he was recently behind the development of the PRG Bad Boy luminaire as seen in such large numbers on U2's current 360° tour . . .
Chris Cronin
In almost 35 years in the business, Chris Cronin has had a hand in pushing forward many of the developments we take for granted. From the days of PAR cans and Raylights to the T2 safety truss, and from the Medium Duty truss to Take That's 'Big Man', Chris has applied his enthusiasm and ingenuity to products which have benefited thousands of projects all over the world. Having started his career with James Thomas Engineering in 1978, Chris left to start Tomcat Ltd in 1985, before founding Total Fabrications Ltd (TFL) in 1989, later expanding to become Total Solutions Group (TSG). In all that time, Chris has been at the forefront of the entertainment staging industry, developing flexible, safe trussing structures.
Wayne Howell
Wayne Howell began his career in entertainment technology in the mid-80s at Avolites, where he first learned computer programming and contributed to the development of the QM500 and Rolacue desks. In 1988 he founded Artistic Licence, a specialist lighting control solutions provider. Since then, his innovative products such as Micro-Scope DMX tester, the Lamp Tramp, the DMX-Dongle, DMX-Split, Pixi-Web and Visual Patch have won many industry accolades and formed key elements to many notable projects in entertainment and architectural lighting worldwide. He contributed to the development of ESTA standards DMX512 and RDM, created Art-Net - the royalty-free DMX-over-Ethernet protocol - and initiated the Zero Carbon Project. He is also the author of the books Control Freak and Rock Solid Ethernet.
Alan Jacobi LVO
Alan Jacobi has worked rigorously to raise the profile and professionalism of the rigging industry and long recognised the need for training and education. He's been a driving force behind the NRC accreditation scheme since the very beginning in 2005, and Unusual Rigging is an Assessment Centre for the NRC. Awarded the LVO in a special honours list drawn up by the Queen for his work on the production and co-ordination of the Golden Jubilee celebrations, AJ has worked solidly to make rigging an acknowledged and established profession.
Frederic Opsomer
Frederic Opsomer began his career in the mid-80s, utilising video and projectors for marketing purposes. Quickly advancing to more complicated systems, he went on to develop a groundbreaking 200 cube pro
