News

CEDIA Region 1 Announces 2009 Award Winners (6/4/2009)

The winners of the CEDIA Awards 2009, sponsored by Dymo, Dynalite and Sky News, were announced at a glittering ceremony on Friday 3 April at The Brewery in London.

Sky News anchor-man and Sky Technophile presenter, Martin Stanford was on hand to present the awards in front of 300 industry professionals and members from across Region 1.

The CEDIA Awards 2009 certainly proved to be an international affair having received a record amount of entries from outside of the UK. 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, proving that, despite more challenging times, the residential custom installation industry still has much to celebrate.

Amongst the winners were some outstanding installations including that from Synergy Technologies from Pakistan who won the Best Home Cinema Installation over £100,000 for the ‘Saleem Residence' - a project which boasted integration on an unprecedented scale and one that was also highly commended within the Best Integrated Home over £250,000 category.

Best integrated home under £100K was as popular a category as ever, with four very strong contenders. But, worthy winners were Grahams Hi-Fi for ‘London Penthouse' which the judges praised for its use of light, which brought the architect's vision to life.

In an incredibly hotly-debated category, the deserving winner for Best Integrated Home over £250,000 was Censys Residential Control from the Netherlands with ‘Landhuis'; a project which impressed the judges with its user-friendly, easy to maintain, secure and practical system.

The Best dressed installation category took a look behind the scenes to find the install that had been carried out the most carefully; particular attention was paid to the racking and cabling, and for an entry described as demonstrating real attention to detail, Imagine This were worthy winners for ‘Forest Drive'.

Robert Hallam, Chairman of CEDIA Region 1 says. "We were thrilled at the quantity and quality of the entries received this year and it's great to see so many from outside the UK not only entering the awards, but winning them as well. The Awards night was a resounding success and I would like to take this opportunity of extending my congratulations to all the finalists, highly commended and winners of the CEDIA Awards 2009!"

The full list of winners, highly commended entries and finalists is:

Best home cinema installation under £40,000 (70,000 Euros)

Winner: Finite Solutions, Hidden Cinema
Finalist: The Big Picture, The Ivy Cottage
Finalist: The Big Picture, Beacon Road Cinema
Finalist: Prestige Audio, Reigate Cinema

Best home cinema installation from £40K-£100,000 (70,000-150,000 Euros)

Winner: Sound Decisions Consultancy & Services, Chatwal Residence
Finalist: Dark Side of the Room, Chalon
Finalist: Finite Solutions, McLaren Cinema

Best home cinema installation over £100,000 (150,000 Euros)

Winner: Synergy Technologies, Saleem Residence
Finalist: Audio Video Design, Tradate
Finalist: Projecting & Sounding ART, Aegean Sunset

Best integrated home under £100,000 (150,000 Euros)

Winner: Grahams Hi-Fi, London Penthouse
Highly commended: Prestige Audio, Swiss Chalet
Finalist: ISIS Integrated Systems, Gledhow
Finalist: Olive, Park Mews

Best integrated home from £100,000 - £250,000 (150,000 - 370,000 Euros)

Winner: MR Domotica, Passion for Home Automation
Highly commended: Finite Solutions, Uffuzi
Finalist: Finite Solutions, Showhouse
Finalist: Smartbusiness, Madrid Smart House

Best integrated home over £250,000 (370,000 Euros)

Winner: Censys Residential Control, Landhuis
Highly commended: Synergy Technologies, Saleem Residence
Finalist: Creative Home Cinema, Kent Family Home

Best dressed installation

Winner: Imagine This, Forest Drive
Finalist: ANT (Advanced New Technologies), Courchevel

Best marine installation
Winner: Icon Connect, Lazy Me
Finalist: Dawsons, JackLo

Best multi dwelling

Winner: SmartComm, Charters
Finalist: Hometech Integration, Altitude 25

Alongside these project winners, CEDIA Awards were also presented in two trade supplier categories; Best Trade Supplier and Best Training Initiative by a Trade Supplier. All ESP members were entitled to vote on both categories, via an online poll. This year, the accolade for Best Trade Supplier went to Crestron. The winner of Best Training Initiative was AWE Europe .

Established to recognise and reward high quality system design, installation and integration, the CEDIA Awards help to set the standard for CEDIA ESP members across CEDIA Region 1.

The judges were looking for outstanding design and integration within all the categories, and the competition was incredibly tough. As well as the need to be integrated and beautifully concealed with the interior, important factors included imaginative and appropriate design and use of technology, safe and tidy racks as well as a bit of ‘wow' factor.

www.cedia.co.uk/awards