AV News Magazine | Page 46

AV News 191 - February 2013 PAGB AV Awards Peter Brown - Event Organiser It is the first time in the history of the PAGB AV awards that an adjudication was held only 12 months apart, normally these events have been held 24 months apart. Demand was felt to be high hence shortening the gap between events. In the end demand was not as high as expected, with only 9 entrants, the rules demand 10 entrants to make the event viable; however is was thought that these 9 should not be disappointed in having to wait a further period of time. On Saturday 20th October at the Civic Centre, Braunstone Town, Leicester quite a reasonable crowd settled down to watch the AV's, those of the entrants present looked a little anxious whilst waiting for their turn. With only one entry for Credit, we were soon on to the Distinctions awards. Second up was a joint application, a husband and wife team; a joint application requires double the time schedule, so they had to provide between 30 to 40 minutes of sequences, up to the required standard. Six sequences later the adjudicators retired to deliberate and give a mark. They mark 2 - 5, just as they do with Print and PDI awards, for Distinction in AV, 10 is the pass rate. Ten nail-biting minutes later the jury returns and the score proclaimed, 12. Two relieved smiling faces amidst loud applause from the audience, they had achieved their goal. Following lunch we were back with the Distinctions, the final 'D' of 2 expertly crafted sequences. This time the jury returned and a score of 13 was announced, to more relief and applause. Everyone knew who it was by the style of the work shown, one of the sequences had achieved third place in last year's National championships. On to the final application of the day, a joint Master, even more difficult, 40 - 60 minutes of 'The Highest Standard of Amateur Audio Visual Sequences' is the requirement. Just over three quarters of an hour later the jury left the room to consider their verdict. To provide 47 minutes of work up to this calibre is no mean feat. It requires pure 100 percent dedication to achieve this, especially with 2 persons on the task, as two are bound to disagree over what is right or wrong, it's only human nature. Eventually the jury return, were they smiling or not? They were giving nothing away. It was left to the event organiser to announce the score, the pass score for 'M' is 12, as 12 was announced the whole room erupted, they had achieved what some would say was the impossible. The look of delight on the couples' faces went from ear to ear, making them only the sixth and seventh to achieve the Master award in Audio Visual. A View From The Audience Keith Long It was almost a year since I attended the last AV Adjudications. The assessors were Keith Brown, Richard Brown and Martin Fry. Rod Wheelans and Leo Rich attended in their respective roles as PAGB members and the event was opened by the PAGB President, Peter Cheetham. Page 44