NEW YORK – Apollo Design Technology recently made the first donation to Behind the Scenes from first year sales of the winning templates in their annual Design-A-Pattern Contest.
Each year, Apollo is committed to adding new gobo designs to their library of standard patterns but they wanted to get the actual users more involved so in 2008 they created the Design-A-Pattern Contest. Anyone can submit a design and those entries that meet Apollo’s basic criteria for what makes a good standard pattern are posted on Apollo’s website and the public votes for their favorite.
The first contest resulted in 30 entries and five winning patterns submitted by R. Christopher Stokes, Dwayne Thomas, Morgan Landrum, Todd Proffitt, and Gary McGarity. As recognition for being selected, the designer’s name is included in the pattern name, the designs are added to Apollo’s marketing materials, and Apollo makes a donation to Behind the Scenes based on a portion of first year sales.
“These elements combined to generate the user interest and interaction we were looking for,” commented Monty McWilliams, VP Marketing for Apollo Design. “Based on the number of submissions and winners in year two, we anticipate the program’s contribution to Behind the Scenes will continue to grow.”
Visit www.apollodesign.net to view the 2009 contest winners and support Behind the Scenes or to submit your own design for the 2010 contest, which is underway right now.
The ESTA Foundation’s Behind the Scenes program provides entertainment technology industry members with grants for emergency situations created by serious illness, injury or death. For more information about Behind the Scenes, to donate, or to apply for a grant, visit www.estafoundation.org/bts.htm .
