SOUTHAMPTON, UK ­ The Luminar Group¹s Lighting Technician of the Year competition recognizes and celebrates excellence in the lighting profession. So it wasn¹t surprising that CHAUVET DJ and its sister company TRUSST were chosen to provide lighting and trussing for this prestigious event, which was held at Oceana in Southampton, one of the many popular clubs operated by the Luminar Group.

A group of five regional champions gathered at the award-winning club to vie for the prestigious title at the grand finale, which was hosted by Luminar¹s main man for all things DJ and Music, Al Mayfield. The talented five were the winners of a series of regional heats held at over 62 nightclubs owned by Luminar.

The finals were broken into two sections. In the first section, the finalists had to program and operate a lighting rig to a three-minute long pre-recorded musical sequence. Next, they were called upon to operate the same rig in the main room of the nightclub during a 15-minute slot on a busy Saturday night.

A specially designed contest rig, constructed from truss by Trusst, incorporated a combination of fixtures from CHAUVET DJ¹s popular Intimidator series of moving heads, including Intimidator Beam LED 350s, Intimidator Spot LED 350s and Intimidator Wash Zoom 350 IRCs. Added to this was an array of COLORband Pix-M fixtures that use DMX-controllable motors to sweep back and forth to create dynamic effects, and high-powered MegaStrobe FX12 lights. Completing the CHAUVET DJ package were Geyser RGB foggers, to provide vertical streams of illuminated fog, and Funfetti Shot confetti canons to add drama and pizzazz.

The panel of four judges included Steve Fisher, managing director of SF Leisure Europe Ltd. ³I was very impressed with the calibre of all the finalists. It was exciting to see them put their ideas together so quickly and professionally,² said Fisher. ³The second challenge provided them with an opportunity to really showcase their creative flair.²

The eventual winner was The Luminar Group¹s South West region finalist, Ian Burridge, from Oceana nightclub in Plymouth. Luminar¹s Ged Gorrie, Regional Director (South), and Tim Howard, Head of Marketing and Central Operations, presented Burridge with a stylish glass award, a CHAUVET DJ Geyser RGB and a trip to the Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt, where he operated the lighting at the opening reception party.