After much deliberation, the theatre judging panel for the 2017 Knight of Illumination
(KOI) Awards has announced this year’s shortlist of lighting and video designers,
recognised for their creative work in Theatre. The winners will be announced at the
tenth anniversary KOI Awards ceremony, to be held at London’s Eventim Apollo,
Hammersmith, on 17 September.

The KOI Awards was established to publicly celebrate the artistic achievements of
lighting and video designers whose work has been showcased in the UK in the past 12
months in the sectors of Television, Theatre and Concert Touring & Events. Now one of
the most celebrated nights in the live entertainment design industry calendar, KOI
attracted more than 500 industry creatives and professionals to last year’s
celebrations.

The first of KOI’s three shortlist to be announced; the theatre judging panel’s shortlist
is as follows:

The ADB theatre award for plays:

• Jon Clark for Amadeus at the National Theatre

• Richard Howell for Guards at the Taj at The Bush

• Peter Mumford for The Children at the Royal Court

The ETC theatre award for dance:

• Fabiana Piccioli for Echoes by the Aakash Odedra Company at Curve

• Tom Visser for The Royal Ballet’s Flight Pattern at The Royal Opera House

• Alastair West for Northern Ballet’s Casanova at Leeds Grand Theatre

The PRG XL video theatre award for musicals:

• Lee Curran for Jesus Christ Superstar at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

• David Hersey for Fiddler on the Roof at Chichester Festival Theatre

• Joshua Pharo for Removal Men at The Yard

The Hawthorn theatre award for projection design:

• Lysander Ashton for City of Glass at The Lyric Hammersmith

• Ian William Galloway for Hansel and Gretel at Leeds Grand Theatre

• Tal Rosner for 8 Minutes at Sadler’s Wells

The Robert Juliat theatre award for opera:

• Jon Clark for Hamlet at Glyndebourne Festival Opera

• Simon Corder for The Queen of Spades at Opera Holland Park

• Bernd Purkrabek for Cosi fan tutte at The Royal Opera House

Chairing the Theatre category is culture critic and broadcaster, David Benedict. “The
KOI Awards is wonderful in that it rewards those in the earlier stages of their career,
as well as the more experienced designers,” says Benedict. “Judging the short list is
particularly satisfying because unlike most other awards, KOI comes with no outside
interference. There are no producers or organisers demanding celebrity winners. Our
decisions are based entirely on merit. This year’s deliberations were memorably
difficult, with a fierce argument about nominees because the achievements of
designers’ work across the country are so high.’

This year’s Theatre judging panel, who debated tirelessly to whittle down their
deserving nominations to the final fifteen, comprised leading UK arts critics:
Alexandra Coghlan, opera critic of The Spectator; Jonathan Gray, editor of the Dancing
Times; Neil Norman, dance critic of the Daily Express; Natasha Tripney, reviews editor
of The Stage; Matt Trueman, theatre critic of Variety and Whatsonstage; and Mark
Valencia, Whatsonstage opera critic.

Benedict and his fellow judges assessed and debated hundreds of designs seen in the
past year, to reach their final list of fifteen nominees.

The prestigious ceremony will take place on 17 September at the iconic Eventim
Apollo, Hammersmith, where the KOI 2017 winners’ creative work will be celebrated
and recognised in the presence of their colleagues and peers.

Headline sponsors of the 10th Knight of Illumination Awards are OSRAM and Claypaky.
Spotlight Sponsors have been announced as ADB, Altman Lighting, Avolites, d3
Technologies, ETC, GLP German Light Products, Green Hippo, Hawthorn, HSL, Light
Initiative, MA Lighting, Philips Vari-Lite, PRG XL Video, Robert Juliat and SLX.
Hawthorn is once again returning as technical partner for KOI 2017.