Over 400 industry professionals joined CEDIA (the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association) at the Natural History Museum as it revealed the winners of the tenth annual CEDIA Awards. 

The CEDIA Awards celebrates design, installation and integration excellence in the home technology sector. This year, the scheme attracted over 120 impressive entries from 17 different countries, all competing for the best media room, home cinema, integrated home, super yacht and other category prizes. Attendees to this year’s landmark Awards were treated to a memorable night of high-class dining, networking and comedy in the awe-inspiring Natural History Museum, featuring the iconic 26-meter Diplodocus, Dippy.

Comedian and writer on Dead Ringers and The Mighty Boosh Danny Wallace, hosted the evenings proceedings and presented a total of 17 awards to this year’s winning schemes. Alongside the project and showroom categories, Danny also awarded prizes to CEDIA Trade Suppliers competing in Best Innovative Product, Training Initiative and Trade Supplier categories.   Journalist Hayley Gilbert secured the media award of the night for the Best Technology Feature, following her article on High-Tech Homes which appeared in the April issue of KBB Magazine. Finally, Peter Aylett received the CEDIA Special Recognition Award for his dedication to CEDIA and the industry.

The full list of winning projects is as follows:

Best Media Room under £10k

Winner: H&H Audio Visual Ltd (UK) – Highgate Media Room

Best Media Room over £10k

Winner: New Land Solutions Ltd (UK) – Hidden Cinema

Highly Commended: Kensington Audio Visual (UK) – Vertice

Best Dressed Rack

Winner: Cornflake (UK) – Child’s Play

Best Home Cinema under £40k

Winner: The Big Picture (UK) – Leafield House

Best Home Cinema £40k-£100k

Winner: Art Cinema | 3Logic (Poland) – Connoisseur Cinema

Highly Commended: The Big Picture (UK) – Roman Way

Best Home Cinema over £100k

Winner: MACBEE Pvt. Ltd. (India) – The Red Carpet Cinema

Best Lighting Scheme

Winner: Brilliant Lighting (UK) – Lighting a Georgian Townhouse and Mews

Best Yacht Installation

Winner: Archimedia (UAE) – Majesty 122

Highly Commended: Archimedia (UAE) – Majesty 135

Best Showroom

Winner: De Opera Domotica (Netherlands) – Discover Your Senses

Best Custom Solution

Winner: H&H Audio Visual Ltd (UK) – Westbourne Grove Legacy Upgrade

Best Multiple Scheme for a Property Developer

Winner: Grahams (UK) – The Paladio

Highly Commended: Design Innovation (UK) – Great Minster House

Best Integrated Home Under £100K

Winner: Lifestyle Technologies (Cyprus) – Smart Contemporary Living

Highly Commended: Grahams (UK) – London Penthouse 20

Best Integrated Home £100K-£250k

Winner: Woelf (Belgium) – Golf Loft

Highly Commended: SONA (UK) – Project 1047

Best Integrated Home £250k

Winner: Défi Technique SA (Switzerland) – Jewelbox

Best Energy Management Solution

Winner: Défi Technique SA (Switzerland) – Jewelbox

Best Technology Feature

Winner: Hayley Gilbert – KBB Magazine

Best Training Initiative

Winner: Habitech Ltd (UK) – ProNet Training

Highly Commended: AWE (UK) – Foundation Workshop

Best Innovative Product

Winner: Habitech Ltd (UK) – Ihiji Remote Network Management

Highly Commended: Rako Controls (UK) – Rako NFC Walls Panels

Best Trade Supplier

Winner: AWE (UK)

Special Recognition Award

Winner: Peter Aylett

“As a landmark year for the CEDIA Awards, we are delighted with the exceptional quality of this year’s entries” comments chairman of CEDIA EMEA Wendy Griffiths. “We’d like to congratulate all winners who displayed high quality integration at system and design level, and who have undoubtedly set the benchmark higher for next year’s Awards and the industry as a whole. As the most internationally acclaimed industry Awards to date, this year’s winners demonstrated inspiring creativity, innovation and supreme excellence in home automation. We would like to thank all companies who have taken the time and effort to enter the CEDIA Awards 2015.”

The successful winners and highly commended projects have all been captured in the CEDIA Awards 2015 yearbook. The yearbook celebrates the hard work and creativity put into every project with impressive imagery, project synopsis and kit lists included. The Awards yearbook is available to download from www.cediaawards.org with printed copies also available.

AMX, ELAN, Indigo Distribution, Kaleidescape, LILIN, Origin Acoustics, Pulse Cinemas and Rako all supported this year’s event as sponsors. After the ceremony, attendees were invited to continue celebrating the night’s events at the lively after party, hosted by Artcoustic, at the Natural History Museum.

For more information on the winning projects, the Awards scheme and CEDIA, please visit www.cediaawards.org.

TESTIMONIALS

Iain Shaw, Brilliant Lighting

“It is fantastic to win Best Lighting Scheme at the tenth anniversary year of the CEDIA Awards.  What makes this CEDIA Awards special to us is the fact that the entries go through a rigorous judging process.  Design, documentation and technical excellence are all under the scrutiny by the judges, so it is an honour to be recognised by experts in our industry.”

Takis Sarikas, Lifestyle Technologies

“CEDIA is a lifetime school for us and the Awards represent the highest honour for us and our industry. We have been founder members since 1997 and the hard work that our team has put in all these years is now being internationally recognised.

Although we come from the very small island in Cyprus, the challenges are there, the demanding clients are the same, and our work proves to be of international standards and professionalism.  We would like to thank CEDIA and the whole CI industry for giving us the chance to compete with the world’s best.  We are very proud for this year’s Best Integrated Home Under £100,000 Award and I dedicate this to the full Lifestyle Technologies team and our esteemed clients.  We would prompt younger CI companies to become CEDIA members and follow the Awards, as it is a chance to show the world how good their work is.”

Jan Martens, Woelf

“Winning a CEDIA Award is like winning an Oscar for a movie star. It is nice for a young company like us to get recognition for all the hard work that we put in every day.  This award win is also confirmation that we doing business the right way and with good ethics.  We are the first winner in Belgium, which is a great achievement for us!”

Stuart Tickle, AWE

“AWE being voted Best Trade Supplier of 2015 is incredibly rewarding, motivating and humbling.  We have invested heavily over the past 18 months and the AWE team has worked extremely hard setting up a superb show apartment, launching the Smart Home Academy and a brand new website, and not forgetting our #AWE80 motorsport promotion to celebrate 80 years in business!  It is fantastic that the installers themselves, our customers, have recognised our efforts by voting for us and my sincere thanks and appreciation goes to them.”

Patryk Gut, 3Logic

“CEDIA as an organization is setting standards of professionalism in custom installation market. As a member since 2004, we implement those standards in the Polish market. The award for Best Home Cinema £40,000-£100,000, which we received this year, is confirmation that the highest level of professionalism is really appreciated. We are pleased that we met the requirements of an extremely demanding customer, and the fact that we received a CEDIA Award, proves that we did it in the best possible way. Moreover, we are glad that every year the CEDIA Awards are coming more international. This type of competition is great for the whole industry.”

Sawan Nichani, MacBee

“Sometimes our efforts as custom installers make a lot of difference in a customer’s life. This award is a sign that we are aiming for the right goal. Thank you CEDIA for an amazing experience and something to work towards each year! It’s truly inspiring.”

Gary Lewis, Cornflake

“A large contingent of Cornflake staff enjoyed an exciting and nail-biting evening at the CEDIA Awards 2015.  Shortlisted in seven categories, the company uses the annual event to recognise and reward the efforts of its front-line team.  The evening is a top night in the CI calendar and a great opportunity to unwind with industry colleagues and suppliers.   From the amazing venue, the top-class entertainment and careful attention to detail, the 10th awards ceremony surpassed previous years. Well done to all the team.”