The award to Paul, owner of PRMi Consulting, was presented by Steven Way, a member of the Peer Group and President of ALPS / Advanced Lighting & Production Services. Paul was instrumental in helping develop the details of the Peer Group Program in 2008. He has since stayed on as the group's "parental unit," as they affectionately refer to him, to ensure the group is following anti-trust guidelines during its four meetings a year. Steven stated, "The time he volunteers and industry experience he offers has and continues to be extremely valuable to our Peer Group, as well as PLASA." His dedication to this group, and to PLASA's other programmes, is a true testament to the amazing volunteers the Steward Award seeks to honour.
The award to the E1.21 Task Group was presented by the chair of the Rigging Working Group, Bill Sapsis, who told the crowd, "When E1.21-2006 came up for review in 2011, the consensus was that, given the significant changes in the outdoor event industry over the past five years, it was time to update and expand the standard. A task group was formed and charged with the mission to make the standard even better." Through two years of very hard work, Task Group leader Keith Bohn, along with members Adrian Black, Benjamin Cohen, Tim Franklin, Mike Garl, Bill Gorlin, Greg Hareld, Richard Nix and Miriam Paschetto did just that.
The Frank Stewart award was created to honour Frank's unrivalled service to ESTA during the 18 years that he served as its Treasurer. This award recognizes extraordinary effort by a volunteer or group of volunteers during the previous year and is bestowed by the PLASA North American Regional Board.
(Jim Evans)
