The final assessment of those claims will take place at the PLASA Show, where an independent panel of industry experts will judge the entries, based on the strength of their innovation alone. Respected for their impartiality, the panel will hear a five-minute presentation from each of the nominees, and have the opportunity for questions and answers, before making their final selections.
There are no product categories and the judges will have eight awards of equal standing at their disposal, with the option of a Gold Award for any product or products that demonstrates outstanding innovation above that of its peers.
In addition, the judging panel can choose to give the PLASA Award for Sustainability to any product which offers a significant reduction in power usage, makes effective use of renewable energy sources or provides a significant reduction in its environmental impact during its lifecycle.
This year's entries will include:
AC-ET's Chroma-Q Studio One 100 LED PAR features a custom optical design and fully homogenised output producing a smooth, uniform and defined beam - for above-Par performance from a white source. Utilising core LED technology from the Chroma-Q is suited to a wide range of environments.
Clay Paky's Scenius is a new, silent moving head spotlight at the top of the Clay Paky range. Its advanced optical unit and new 1400W - 6000K OSRAM discharge lamp provide a much higher light output than previous generation 1500W lamps.
Clay Paky's Spheriscan is a revolutionary scanner with a modern twist: its mirror goes on turning endlessly beyond 360 degrees, which creates an absolutely original swirling effect. Its speed may be adjusted as desired and reach a maximum of 280 rpm. Its spanking new OSRAM lamp works at 1200W.
d3 Technologies' 4x4pro sets a new standard for power and flexibility. With next generation components, it is ideal for the most demanding productions. The d3 4x4pro plays up to eight layers of 4K video or 32 layers of HD video, and up to eight layers of uncompressed HD video, all with content up to 16K pixels.
Dataton's Watchout 6, the new version of Dataton's multi-display production and playback software, adds an unrivalled feature-set for advanced projection mapping, fronted by an enhanced user interface. The most significant upgrade in the 15-year history of the product, Watchout 6 improves workflow for complex projection scenarios with live edit, virtual projectors and new marker-based calibration.
ETC's ColorSource Spot out-performs previous RGB, RGB-A and RGB-W emitter technology, thanks to its precise combination of red, green, blue and lime emitters. It achieves brighter, richer and more believable colours than other budget LEDs, especially in the warm end of the colour spectrum.
Elation Professional's Platinum FLX is a 'FLXible' multi-functional luminaire with a patent-pending dual optical system that is unique and gives clear advantages over traditional hybrid systems.
Elation Professional's Emotion is a compact yet powerful moving head digital luminaire that brings the latest in next generation digital lighting technology to the market. This 'digital moving projector' can output static gobos, full colour images, animated videos and effects for the creative freedom to project an image anywhere.
Flare Audio's Flare Zero is a loudspeaker aimed at discerning studios, musicians and audiophiles allowing
