LAS VEGAS — The 2016 Parnelli Ballot has been finalized, and voting has begun! The ballot, which includes the six North American finalists for the Parnelli Award for Hometown Hero Lighting Company of the Year award (chosen during a separate round of voting in July) is posted online at parnelliawards.com, and it’s up to YOU, the PLSN reader, to decide who among the nominees will step up to the awards podium at the Rio in Las Vegas on the evening of Oct. 22.
The direct link is www.parnelliawards.com/vote.
Along with the ability to cast your vote for your favorite Hometown Hero contender, you can help decide who among the nominees in all the other awards categories gets the 2016 Parnelli nod, including this year’s best lighting designer, lighting director, set/scenic designer, video director, tour manager and production manager. There are also awards honoring companies involved in lighting, sound, staging, set construction, video, rigging, pyro, trucking and freight forwarding, along with Indispensable Technology “IT” awards for products advancing the state of the art in lighting, video, staging and sound.
All the votes will be tallied in early October, and the winners will join special honorees in the winners circle. This year’s honorees for career achievement include Richard Fernandez (Lifetime Achievement), Danny O’Bryen (Visionary) and Greg Mackie (Audio Innovator.) The gala, to be hosted by Grammy nominated composer/guitarist Adrian Belew, begins with the 7 p.m. Parnelli Cocktail Party. The banquet dinner and awards starts at 8 p.m., and the festivities continue with the Parnelli After Party immediately following the show.
It all caps a week of conviviality that includes the return of the Parnelli Golf Tournament, which will take place with an 8 a.m. shotgun start at Siena Golf Club on Oct. 20.
The 2016 gala will be the 16th annual Parnelli Awards presentation, and like the 15 awards events that came before, the event is 100 percent dependent upon the generous support from industry sponsors. Leading the way this year is Platinum level sponsor, Group One Ltd., which is sponsoring the awards program on behalf of brands it distributes, including Avolites and DiGiCo.
Gold sponsors include A.C.T Lighting, All Access Staging, Bandit Lites, Branam Enterprises, Brown United, Inc., Columbus McKinnon, Create LED, Elation Professional, Gallagher Staging & Productions/TourReady, Global Trend Productions/Oracle, Harman Group (AKG, BSS, Crown, dbx, JBL, Martin Professional, Soundcraft/Studer), Maryland Sound, MooTV, PixelFLEX, Pyrotek Special Effects, Rock-It Cargo, ROE Visual, Screenworks/NEP, Solotech, Sound Image, Stageline, Strictly FX, Tour Tech East, VER and Ultratec Special Effects.
Silver sponsors include Delicate Productions, Hemphill Brothers Coach Company, Morris, See Factor and TLS Productions Inc. Cocktail Party sponsors include Beachsound, Chauvet, Forward Freight, Martin Audio and Screenworks/NEP. The Parnelli After Party sponsor for 2016 is Pyrotek Special Effects. Production partners for the 2016 event include Access Event Solutions, Atomic, OSA, PRG, SGA Production Services, Stage Crew and TPI Production and Design.
For more information, voting and reservations, go to www.parnelliawards.com.
