The industry rewards excellence at the IBC Awards

The Honor Award for Excellence in this edition has gone to Manolo Romero, general director of Olympic Broadcasting Services. The Red Bull Air Race, the European Parliament archive, the coverage of the World Cup in South Africa, the launch of Sky 3D (BSkyB), the British Freeview platform in DVB-T2 and the Flutuador technology developed by TV Globo in Brazil to denounce river pollution, have been some of the winners in this edition.

This year's IBC Awards kicked off with a preview of the upcoming 3D blockbuster, Tron: Legacy from Walt Disney Pictures, three months before its release. Once the ceremony began, the Honor Award for Excellence went in this edition to Manolo Romero, general director of Olympic Broadcasting Services. From his position as a technical support engineer at TVE in the Mexico games in 1968 to the general management of OBS, Romero has been a key man in the hand-in-hand development of television and Olympism.

"I have been very fortunate to work on many sporting events where they have been able to utilize state-of-the-art technology and innovations. With the help of many colleagues, we have taken important steps in the development of sports television coverage. I am honored to accept this award and dedicate it to all the friends and colleagues who have contributed over the years, and to those who continue to strive for excellence in broadcasting in the future," said Romero when collecting his award.

Innovation Awards

Although there were impressive nominations for stereoscopic sports for ESPN and loudness management for NBC's Olympic coverage, the international jury gave the content creation award to the Red Bull Air Race for its use of fiber in content distribution and communications. Riedel Communications together with SIVision Outside Broadcast and West4Media Production have been worthy of this important award.

The finalists in the media management category were the multi-platform editorial office of Antena 3 in Spain and the European Parliament archive that recovers half a century of audio and video. Finally, this installation was imposed with Front Porch Digital and Broadcasting Center Europe as integrators.

The two broadcast finalists were the DAB digital radio network in Australia, by ABC and SBS, but the winner was the development of DVB-T2 as the UK's digital terrestrial platform. BBC R&D led the project on behalf of DVB.

Special Jury Prize

The World Cup is always a massive television event, 700 million people watched this year's final. With interest in stereoscopic 3D television on the rise, the decision was made in early 2010 to cover a series of live games. Despite the many challenges and very tight timescales, 25 matches were given the 3D treatment, including the final.
Due to the great effort developed at the South Africa event, the special jury award went to the close collaboration between FIFA, its partner HBS, the ESPN channel and the technical support of Sony.

Finally, the IBC organization also wanted to recognize the launch of Sky 3D earlier this year, and the denunciation campaign promoted by TV Globo in Brazil to save the Tietê River from pollution, using Flutuador, a floating device that provided measurements and images in order to raise awareness among the public and, ultimately, politicians.

Palmarés IBC Awards 2010

International Honour for Excellence
Manolo Romero

Special Award
Flutuador, TV Globo Network

Special Award
Sky 3D channel, BSkyB

Innovation Award Judges Prize
FIFA World Cup en 3D, ESPN, FIFA, HBS, Sony

Innovation Award Content Creation
Red Bull Air Race, Red Bull Air Race
3D en directo, ESPN (finalista)
Loudness para los Juegos de Vancouver (finalista)

Innovation Award Content Management
Migración digital y archivo del Parlamento Europeo
Gestión de media multiplataforma en Antena 3 (finalista)

Innovation Award Content Delivery
DVB-T2 para TDT HD, Freeview
DAB+ en Australia (Finalista)

Best Conference Paper
Does size matter? The impact of screen size on 3D’, NDS

Exhibition Design Awards
Best Larger Free Design Stand – WASP3D, .B62
Best Smaller Free Design Stand – ioko, 1.A50
Most Imaginative Use of Shell Scheme Space – Wenham Carter International, 3.C01