The Hollywood Professional Alliance (HPA) has announced that the call for entries is now open for two special HPA Awards: the Engineering Excellence Award and the Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation. Celebrating its 10th year, the HPA Awards recognize the achievements of the individuals and companies that have contributed to groundbreaking technologies and creative excellence within the professional media content industry. Both special awards will be presented at the 2015 HPA Awards on the evening of November 12, 2015 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
The HPA Engineering Excellence Award is recognized as one of the most prestigious technology honors in the industry. It spotlights companies and individuals who draw upon technical and creative ingenuity to develop important technologies that enable capability and creativity in content production, finishing, distribution and archive. Submissions for this peer-judged award may include products or processes, and must represent a step forward for its industry beneficiaries. Any individual, group of individuals or entity driving innovation focused on the professional media content industry is encouraged to submit an entry for the award.
The HPA Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation was conceived to recognize companies and individuals who have demonstrated excellence, whether in the development of workflow and process to support creative storytelling and/or in technical innovation. Submissions for the award can include content such as a unique movie, TV program or commercial; a workflow, proprietary technical development, hardware or software toolset, or a creative approach that is not eligible for consideration in other HPA Award categories. A jury of industry experts determines the award’s winners.
Leon Silverman, president of the HPA, noted, “The HPA itself, especially as part of SMPTE, sits at the intersection of technology and content creation, bringing together the mutually vibrant creativity of both those who provide tools and those who use them. These special awards recognize the role that technology, engineering and workflow increasingly play in our industry.”
For both special awards, the call for entries is opening sooner than in prior years. Entries for both the Engineering Excellence Award and the Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation will be accepted until May 22, 2015.
“For 10 years, the HPA Awards have shined a light on the work that is done by so many individuals and organizations which help bring stories to life in bigger and more compelling ways than ever before,” Silverman concluded. “The announcement of these two special awards is the kick off to our awards season, and I am certain that these, and every category, will be full of inspiration and imagination.”
Over the past decade, previous Engineering Excellence Award winners have included Dolby Laboratories, Sony Electronics, ARRI, and NVIDIA; and winners of the Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation have included Light Iron, FotoKem, Park Road Post Production, and DigitalFilm Tree.
In addition to these special awards, the HPA Awards honor the important post production categories of: Outstanding Color Grading, Editing, Sound, and Visual Effects for feature film, television and commercials. The call for entries in these categories will be announced at an upcoming date.
Complete rules, guidelines and entry information are available at: www.hpaawards.net. Entrants for both the Engineering Excellence Award and the Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation will be invited to present at a special HPA judging event in June.
