News & Press

Launched in 2006, the HPA Awards were designed to honor the creative and technical genius that power our industry. At that time, the behind-the-scenes talent that is an undeniable part of media creation was not as recognized as it is today, and HPA and the founders of the HPA Awards Committee (Carolyn Giardina and Mark Chiolis) hoped to change that.  The awards launched with multiple categories, including creative, Lifetime Achievement and Engineering Excellence.

For nearly 20 years, HPA’s Engineering Excellence awards have honored groundbreaking achievements and innovations in the media and entertainment industry.  Taking home an Engineering Excellence award is a testament to a winner’s pioneering spirit, and a benchmark for excellence, inspiring others in the industry to strive for innovation and improvement.

Beyond the trophy and the gala, an HPA Engineering Excellence award confers industry-wide recognition and respect. It can propel companies into the limelight, attracting attention from potential clients, collaborators, and partners. For companies and individuals alike, winning this award is not just an honor; it’s a milestone that marks their contributions to shaping the future of entertainment.

Looking through a list of winners reveals a timeline of revolution and change in our industry. The winning technologies have often set new standards, paving the way for the future and highlighting trends and directions in technology.  

In a press release recognizing the company’s first win in 2012, Cinnafilm said “The HPA is comprised of engineers, executives and creative post production professionals who understand and use technology to achieve incredible results that captivate a global audience. Winning the Engineering Excellence Award is significant because it is determined by professionals that use the best technologies in the world every day.” The company has won three Engineering Excellence awards.

In 2006, the HPA Award(s) for Engineering Excellence were awarded to Digital Vision (for DVO Image Processing Software), MTI Film (for Control Dailies), and Sony (for HDCAM SR).  Those are a bit of a time capsule but also a reverent look at how technology builds on itself and evolves.  Larry Chernoff, CEO of MTI commented, “Acknowledging the work that engineers dedicate themselves to doing in order to bring a product to market is rarely given. Other than market acceptance, colleague acceptance and recognition by the HPA is indeed a rich reward for all the effort.”

Across a wide array of stunning winners, a few stick out:  ARRI Alexa, ATMOS, BMD Resolve, Colorfront Color Engine, Foundry’s NUKE, MoSys, UNREAL Engine RED Monstro, SGO Mistika…and many more.

Submissions will be solicited on April 14, and will be accepted until June 14, 2024.  Joachim Zell, Chair of the engineering award said “It’s an amazing way to show off your hard work.  I don’t think there are other opportunities like this, where you present to an amazing panel of judges from around the world.  Every year, I am really excited to see what is submitted.  You really do need to submit!”

​​​​The winners of the HPA Award for Engineering Excellence, from 2006 to 2023 are:

 

2006

• Digital Vision (for DVO Image Processing Software), MTI Film (for Control Dailies), and Sony (for HDCAM SR).

2007

• Quantel (Tom McGowan, Steve Owen, James Cain and Eric Thorne) – Genetic Engineering

2008

• Quantel – Pablo Stereoscopic 3D
• FastSoft – E Series Internet Accelerator
• Panasonic – AVC-Inttra 100 Video Codec

2009

• DVS Digital Video Systems – Clipster
• Signiant – Content Distribution Management (CDM) Software
• Two Corporation – OB-1 Uncompressed Digital Recorder

2010

• Arnold + Richter Cine Technik (ARRI) – ALEXA
• Cine-tal – Davio Processor
• Digital Vision – Open EXR workflow

2011

• Dolby – Professional Reference Monitor
• Sony – OLED Monitor
• IBM – Linear Tape File System
• Lightcraft – Previzion

2012

• Cinnafilm – Tachyon™
• Crossroads Systems – StrongBox
• Dolby Laboratories – Dolby® Atmos™
• Sony Electronics – F65 Camera

2013

• DTS, Inc. – MDA
• NVIDIA – NVIDIA GRID™ Visual Computing Appliance (VCA)
• Sony Pictures Imageworks and The Foundry – FLIX
• Telestream – 16 bit 4:4:4:4 Transcoding Technology

2014

• MACOM – 12G-SDI Chipset
• NVIDIA – NVIDIA VCA
• Wohler/Cinnafilm Joint Venture – Tachyon Wormhole

2015

• Aspera: FASPStream
• Grass Valley: GV Node Real Time IP Processing and Edge Routing Platform
• RealD: Ultimate Screen
• SGO: Mistika

2017

• Colorfront – Colorfront Engine
• Dolby – Dolby Vision Post-Production Tools
• RED Digital Cinema – WEAPON 8K Vista Vision
• SGO – Mistika VR
• Blackmagic Design – DaVinci Resolve 15

2018

• Canon – Visual and Technical Monitoring of HDR Images
• Cinnafilm, Inc. – PixelStrings
• IBM Aspera & Telestream – Telestream Vantage with Lightspeed Live Capture powered by Aspera

2019

• Adobe – Content-Aware Fill for Video in Adobe After Effects
• Epic Games – Unreal Engine 4
• Pixelworks – TrueCut Motion
• Portrait Displays, Inc. and LG Electronics – CalMAN LUT Based Auto-Calibration Integration with LG OLED TVs

2020

• EIZO – Prominence CG3146 31.1
• Eluvio – Eluvio Content Fabric
• Moxion – Immediates
• Carl Zeiss SBE – eXtended Data – Lens Metadata Technology

2021

• ArchPlatform Technologies – ArchPlatform
• AutoDesk – OpenColorIO v2
• Foundry – Nuke
• Mo-Sys Engineering – NearTime

2022

• Amazon Web Services – Color in the Cloud
• Arri – REVEAL Color Science
• LG Electronics – LG UltraFine Pro OLED Monitor
• Mo-Sys Engineering – LED Key

2023

• Adobe – Adobe Premiere Pro Text-Based Editing
• Flanders Scientific – XMP550
• Kino Flo – Mimik 120

For a complete list of ALL HPA Award winners, visit HPAonline.