Following their success in the recent CEDIA Asia Pacific Awards, four installation companies have taken the world by storm, winning prestigious, best-of-the-best international accolades at the CEDIA Global Awards and CEDIA Americas Awards revealed in Dallas, USA. 

Queensland’s Look and Listen and Zene Private Theater from Beijing, China beat off tough competition from CEDIA members in the US and the rest of the world to secure top prizes in the Best Integrated Home and Best Home Theater categories in the newly instituted CEDIA Global Awards. Meanwhile, Auckland-based members, ABL Group and Liquid Automation, partnered on a project to take the trophies for Best Special Project and Best Project Documentation in the CEDIA Americas Division of the Awards.

The judges praised Look and Listen’s “All in the Family” intuitive home for its “outstanding integration with natural ventilation and rain sensors,” alongside an especially innovative, biometric entry system. Zene Private Theater created an amazing Star Wars-themed cinema in their Feel the Force project, complete with Dolby Atmos immersive sound and a 4K UHD display.  

Jason Bridger of ABL and Sam Ashton of Liquid Automation both made the trip to Dallas from New Zealand for the installation that was six years, from design to completion. “The change in technology over those six years was daunting,” explains Ashton. The project – a luxury lodge sited hours away from the infrastructure of Auckland – gave the integrators even more problems to solve when the project shifted from private residence to a rental facility halfway through the project. Controls had to be intuitive enough for a broad variety of users beyond a single nuclear family.

“What a fantastic achievement for CEDIA Asia Pacific,” says CEDIA CEO, Vin Bruno. “We’re thrilled to see companies from Australia, New Zealand and China making such a huge impact at our CEDIA 2016 Celebration. The design and installation skills, professionalism and creativity of these CEDIA members have been recognised at a global level. This acclaim will not only help these businesses succeed even more in the future, but also gain wider recognition and growth for CEDIA, and our industry, across Asia Pacific.”

More than 1,500 people attended the CEDIA 2016 Celebration held at Gilley’s Dallas where the Awards were presented by web star, Carley Knobloch and CEDIA CEO, Vin Bruno.  Judging for the Awards was carried out by an international panel of industry experts drawn from across the CEDIA community.  A complete yearbook, including winners, finalists, and entrants, will be available later in the year, online and in print.