AV News 189 - August 2012
Who will win the Trophy this year?
Ian Bateman FRPS MPAGB AV-AFIAP Chairman Festival Committee
Preparations for the 20th RPS
International AV Festival are now well
underway, and the Technical Team are
currently sorting through the entries to
make sure they will run smoothly in
Cirencester.
As stated in the Rules, we will
endeavour to play all accepted entries
irrespective of their format, so .mov,
.mpg and .avi files are welcome as well
as .exe files, so long as they will run on our system!
Please note that the last date for booking accommodation on-site at the Royal
Agricultural College is 25th August. Booking Forms can be found in the
Downloads section of the website at www.rpsinternational.org.uk.
The Grand Prix Trophy (above) that is awarded to the winner was designed
by Lord David Linley, the son of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, and was
purchased for the Festival in 1990. Arthur Packham was then the Chairman of
the Festival Committee, and he generously donated the money to make the
purchase. Arthur visited Lord Linley’s studio to select the design, which is
reminiscent of the top of an Ionic column. Arthur is still a very active
photographer in the Buxton area, and was recently awarded Life Membership of
the RPS after initially joining way back in 1953. He recalls that in those days the
RPS meetings were held at Princes Gate in London, and that visiting speakers
were required to wear dinner jackets when giving lectures!
The Festival itself has been running since 1976, and prior to the current trophy
being commissioned, the Grand Prix winners were presented with a unique
piece of glass. These were provided by the Whitefriars Glassworks, and were
actually made from by-products of the glass production process. At the end of
each firing there would be a residue of waste glass of various shapes at the
bottom of the oven. These were utilised as highly individual glass sculptures for
the trophies!
Today, the Grand Prix Trophy is kept at Fenton
House, and because of its value the winner only
gets to be photographed with it rather than keep
it! A plaque, also kept at Fenton House, was
subsequently commissioned from Lord Linley to
record the names of the winners. A list of these
can also be seen on the website in the Grand Prix
Winners section.
The current holder of the Trophy is Howard
Bagshaw, the Grand Prix winner from the last
Festival in 2010.
As the date of this year’s Festival approaches,
I wonder who will have the honour in 2012?
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