SVI Magazine

“At CEDIA, we are committed to raising standards across the Custom Installation industry.” CEDIA Chairman, Robert Hallam explained. “The Awards have always been a fantastic platform for excellence and both the scheme and the judging process are subject to continual review to ensure that they remain a credible and worthy celebration of the best the industry has to offer. Winners and finalists have benefited from unprecedented media exposure for their success, leading to a greater profile for their business and more customer interest in the services they provide. It all adds up to an awards scheme that we are very proud of.”

As detailed in SVI, the 2009 Awards proved to be an international affair with a record amount of entries from 11 countries. Companies from India, the Netherlands, Pakistan, France, Italy, Greece and Spain were all competing for the coveted trophies and their participation helped to make the Awards the biggest to date.

Building on this momentum, the 2010 scheme will be marked by a number of key developments, most notably the introduction of two new categories; Best media room under £15,000 and Best media room over £15,000. These new sections are designed to provide a clearer dividing line between what is a Media Room and what is a Home Cinema for entrants and for judges. Home Cinema rooms are gathering spaces with one main purpose: watching movies. Additionally, a Home Cinema can support other media uses such as music, gaming, and broadcast TV. In contrast, Media Rooms are gathering spaces which integrate at least one screen and two speakers with the primary purpose of supporting many different media uses, such as, watching movies, listening to music, gaming, and viewing broadcast TV.

New for 2010 will also be Best Innovative Solution – Residential. This category has been created to recognise excellence in the design and implementation of a single technical solution within a residential project. So, from custom motorised devices, to concierge systems; this is the category to let your creativity and engineering innovation shine.

Best Dressed Rack will showcase the work of an individual technician, whilst the Industry Lifetime Achievement award – nominated by members, awarded by CEDIA – is a special commendation to recognise an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to CEDIA and the industry as a whole.

And, in a move which brings together criteria from across CEDIA’s structured curriculum, entrants to the Awards 2010 will be receive Best Practice criteria as part of the entry forms, against which all entries will be judged.

With a black-tie Awards ceremony planned for Friday 16th April 2010, the deadline for entries has been confirmed as Friday 12th February.

The full list of CEDIA Awards 2010 categories is as follows:

Best media room under £15,000
Best media room over £15,000
Best home cinema installation project under £40,000 (42,000 Euros)
Best home cinema installation from £40,000-£100,000 (42,000–110,000 Euros)
Best home cinema installation over £100,000 (110,000 Euros)
Best integrated home under £100,000 (110,000 Euros)
Best integrated home from £100,000 - £250,000 (110,000–270,000 Euros)
Best integrated home over £250,000 (270,000 Euros)
Best integrated solution for a multi-dwelling development
Best dressed rack
Best marine
Best innovative solution – residential
Best trade supplier
Best training initiative by a trade supplier
Industry lifetime achievement award

Each installation category will be judged by a prestigious panel comprising building industry and design professionals and technical experts.

CEDIA members will be invited to make their nominations for the Industry Lifetime Achievement award and also to vote for the trade supplier categories via a postal and email poll. The Trade Supplier categories are open to all CEDIA members and recognise the top manufacturer or distributor in the industry for standards of service, support, product innovations and training provided to members.

The CEDIA Awards are open only to CEDIA member companies. For more information including the full list of awards categories, judging criteria, timescales and an entry form, visit www.cedia.co.uk/awards.