On the heels of its highly successful inaugural year, the 2006 DIGI Awards program is now open for entries. Judges for the second annual DIGI Awardthe only industry awards to recognize the outstanding resellers, dealers and integrators of digital signagehave been announced by award co-sponsors.
The five DIGI Awards judges for 2006 are David Keene, Executive Editor of Digital Signage Quarterly and Rental & Staging Systems, who will serve as the DIGI Awards Chairman; Joseph Finizio, Vice President, Member Services, POPAI, the Global Association for Marketing at-Retail; Darek Johnson, Senior Technology Editor of Signs of the Times; Ed Weil, Sourcebook Director-Content, Inc. magazine; Kurt Witzel, Sr. Manager, Retail Marketing, Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
"This year's panel of judges represents a range of insight and expertise into digital signage from a variety of perspectives," said Scott Stanton, director, technology services for ActiveSource. "The DIGI Awards attract a diverse array of applications, which will tap the collective expertise of the panel."
This years sponsors include NEC, NEC Display Solutions, Sharp, Digital Signage Quarterly magazine, media sponsor aka.tv (www.aka.tv), and ActiveSource, the digital signage services division of ActiveLight, Inc. and host of the panel.
The 2006 awards will honor ten winners in four categories: Excellence in Technology (three winners), Excellence in Creativity (three winners), Excellence in Innovation (three winners), and Judges' Choice (one winner). The ten winners will receive a $1,000 cash card, a trophy in recognition of their achievement, as well as a graphic suitable for use in promotional materials. All partners including those involved in the software, content, fixture and hardware of the winning installations will receive a certificate in recognition of their contribution.
"The DIGI Awards, now in their second year, have become the industry benchmark for digital signage excellence. It is important that we recognize the companies that are taking full advantage of the medium, and reward innovation," said Awards Chairman David Keene. "We received a number of excellent entries last year, and with the rapid growth and adoption of digital signage, I anticipate we'll see even more impressive installations this year, including international entries."
Co-sponsored by ActiveSource and Digital Signage Quarterly magazine, the 2006 DIGI Awards are open to all digital signage installations completed in 2005.Entry information is available at www.activesource.com/digiawards. Entries must be submitted online by midnight PST, January 27, 2006. The award winners will be announced March 16, 2006 at NSCA's Systems Integration Expo in Las Vegas. And the winners will participate in an educational panel discussion at the 2006 Digital Retailing Expo in Chicago that features their winning installations. The panel topic, Bringing It All Together: What It Takes to Implement a Winning Digital Signage Project, focuses on the key components of a successful digital signage installation by highlighting the winning installations of the 2006 DIGI Award honorees. The panelists will review the challenges that are encountered in developing and completing projects and how to overcome those challenges to meet the clients goals.
The panel will be geared to digital signage resellers and integrators as well as potential digital signage end-users in all industries, said Scott Stanton, ActiveSources director of technology services.
