The nominees for the 2012 Gottelier Award are Nick Archdale, Chris Cronin, Dr. Christian Heil, Wayne Howell, John Meyer and Pasquale Quadri.

Nick Archdale’s career began with the formation of the Digital Lighting Desk Company (DLD) in 1985. Archdale became one of the three founders of Flying Pig Systems (along with Tom Thorne and Nils Thorjussen) with support from SpotCo. Flying Pig Systems was central to the lighting control revolution of the 1990s, with the emergence of the company’s Wholehog product line: the Wholehog II control desk, previewed at PLASA 1994. Later, Archdale co-founded another serial innovator-Carallon. The company’s Pharos product line has made a similar impact on the world of architectural lighting control to that made by the Wholehogs in show lighting.

In almost 35 years in the business, Chris Cronin has had a hand in pushing forward many of the developments starting from PAR cans and Raylights to the T2 safety truss, and the Medium Duty truss. Having started his career with James Thomas Engineering in 1978, Chris left to start Tomcat Ltd in 1985, before founding Total Fabrications Ltd (TFL) in 1989, and later expanding to become Total Solutions Group (TSG). Chris has been involved in the entertainment staging industry, developing flexible, safe trussing structures.

Dr. Christian Heil founded L-Acoustics in 1984. His introduction of the L-Acoustics V-DOSC line array system during the mid-1990s led to a fundamental shift in the live sound market. The KIVA ultra-compact system came to market in 2008; the K1 system, seen as the long-awaited successor to the V-DOSC , which debuted in 2009; and the KARA modular line source system followed in 2010.

Wayne Howell began his career in entertainment technology during the mid-80s at Avolites, where he first learned computer programming and contributed to the development of the QM500 and Rolacue desks. In 1988 he founded Artistic Licence, a lighting control solutions provider. Since then, he invented many products such as Micro-Scope DMX tester, the Lamp Tramp, the DMX-Dongle, DMX-Split, Pixi-Web and Visual Patch. He contributed to the development of ESTA standards DMX512 and RDM, created Art-Net (the royalty-free DMX-over-Ethernet protocol) and initiated the Zero Carbon Project. He is also the author of the books Control Freak and Rock Solid Ethernet.

John Meyer started his career in sound reinforcement back in 1967 when he assembled a custom amplification system for The Steve Miller Band at the Monterey Pop Festival. From there it progressed through his first fully integrated loudspeaker system, built for Creedence Clearwater Revival’s last tour, loudspeaker linearity research at the Institute of Advanced Music Studies in Montreux, Switzerland and involvement with the Grateful Dead, for whom he provided audio advice, research and experimentation alongside Don Pearson and the late Owsley Stanley. With his wife Helen, John founded Meyer Sound Laboratories in 1979. In 1985, Meyer was made a Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society, and in 2007 was awarded the organisation’s Silver Medal.

For over 30 years, Italian manufacturer Clay Paky has been manufacturing entertainment lighting fixtures. The company has more recently introduced the Alpha Series of moving head luminaires, and more recently, the Sharpy fixture. Paky has managed to keep a strong mix of innovation and reliability in an increasingly commodity-led market place.

The winner will be decided by a peer voting process. All 11,800+ visitors pre-registered for the PLASA Show will be invited via email to vote for their choice. All the representatives of 1200+ PLASA member companies worldwide will also be invited. The winner of the 2012 Gottelier Award will be announced at the PLASA Show on 10 September 2012 in the Central Bar area of Earls Court 1, London.

PLASA is the international membership body for those who supply technologies and services to the event, entertainment and installation industries.