A Bittersweet Spotlight Awards
Electro-voice. Had PRO AV managing editor Patricia Hurley been sitting beside me this past May at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Doylestown, Pa., I’m reasonably certain she would have looked up and noted the Electro-Voice loudspeakers in the church sanctuary. Unfortunately, and very sadly, I was in Doylestown to attend a funeral mass for Patricia, who passed away suddenly just days before.
Electro-voice. Had PRO AV Managing Editor Patricia Hurley been sitting beside me this past May at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Doylestown, Pa., I’m reasonably certain she would have looked up and noted the Electro-Voice loudspeakers installed in the church sanctuary. I did. It had become something of a game during staff lunches to identify the AV equipment wherever we were. Unfortunately, and very sadly, I was in Doylestown to attend a funeral mass for Patricia, who passed away suddenly just days before.
Brad Grimes
That PRO AV sorely misses Patricia, and the countless contributions she made to the publication, goes without saying. But as we put together this particular issue, the feelings are more acute. Patricia was the shepherd of the PRO AV Spotlight Awards program, setting up the necessary systems, working with integrators on their entries as necessary, tracking materials when they arrived at our offices, and taking part in the judging process to select winners. It was clear she believed there were more winners than we had awards to bestow. She was right.
This, our second Spotlight Awards, was especially challenging for Patricia and the other judges. The 15 winners featured were culled from a collection of exceptional entries. I had the pleasure of handing awards to many of the honored AV pros during InfoComm 09 and thanking them personally for taking the time to enter and share their work with the editors, judges, and now all of you. They thanked us in return for creating a program that recognizes what they do and care about.
What Patricia would want you to know about this year’s awards is that we were overjoyed at the response we received. That in spite of economic hardships facing some in the industry, this year’s crop of entries was bigger than last year’s. That many non-winners were worthy of recognition in their own right, including Jensen AV’s project for Shea Homes, Professional Products’ work at Gallaudet University (read about it in the next issue), Absolut Technologies’ Fiat Latin America Style Center, RTKL’s design for the U.S. Naval Academy, D.L. Adams Associates’ AV consultation for the Mile Hi Church, and many more.
And, finally, that we’re proud of this growing awards program, especially because it brings us into contact with so many of the companies furthering the use and practice of commercial AV. She’d want me to remind you to sign up next year. Thanks, Patricia, for a foundation we’ll build on in your memory.
