Named in honour of the late Tony Gottelier, the industry innovator and commentator who passed away in 2006, the Gottelier Award is for our industry's product developers who have made significant and sustained contributions to the advancement of entertainment, presentation or installation technology - whether in audio, lighting, rigging, staging, or any other related field.
The nominees for 2014 are:
Richard Belliveau
As one of the co-founders of Texas-based lighting manufacturer High End Systems, and still leading the company's product developments today, Belliveau has been behind a long line of successful products from the company, from the Color Pro, the Dataflash strobe and the F-100 Fog Generator, through to the Intellabeam and Cyberlight moving mirror luminaires, and moving head fixtures including the Studio Command, the Showgun and the most recent innovation, Shapeshifter. Belliveau is listed as the inventor on 100 US patents, issued or pending.
David Cunningham
An early pioneer of computer lighting systems, David Cunningham developed a number of landmark products for Strand during the 1970s and 80s, including the Multi-Q memory lighting system, the Micro-Q console, the Lightpalette and the CD80 dimming system. After leaving Strand, he set up his own development company, Entertec, and developed the Source Four profile - including its revolutionary 575W HPL lamp. He then entered into a hugely successful partnership with ETC, with whom he went on to develop other products including the successful Sensor dimmer.
Dr. Christian Heil
Dr. Christian Heil founded L-Acoustics in 1984, and the introduction of the V-DOSC line array system in the mid-1990s led to a fundamental shift in the live sound market, and line array systems proliferated for the next decade and a half. Still, Heil and L-Acoustics continue to refine the line array concept: the KIVA ultra-compact system came to market in 2008; the K1 system - seen as the long-awaited successor to the ground-breaking V-DOSC - debuted in 2009; the KARA modular line source system followed in 2010; and the K2 system earlier this year.
Pasquale Quadri
For over 30 years, Italian manufacturer Clay Paky has been a leading force in the manufacture of entertainment lighting fixtures, all the while under the auspices of company founder, Pasquale 'Paky' Quadri. Once a leader in the discotheque lighting market with its series of iconic lighting effects including the world-famous Golden Scan, the company has more recently reinvented its market presence with the introduction of the highly acclaimed and multi-award winning Alpha Series of moving head luminaires, and more recently still, the extremely popular Sharpy fixture.
Voting will be by invitation only: those eligible to cast a vote will be employees of PLASA Member companies and readers of Lighting&Sound International and Lighting&Sound America magazines. Those who receive an email invitation to vote will be able to cast their vote via the PLASA Show website. Voting will close on Friday 26 September, and the winner will be announced at the PLASA Show's awards presentation on Tuesday 7 October.
The shortlist of nominees was generated from invited suggestions from among a consultation panel consisting of PLASA Regional Board & Governing Body members, and regular contributors to LSi and LSA magazines.
