A winter wonderland made of paper and cardboard, a new fund-raising tool, and a 4,000-guest community service project were among the winners of BizBash’s 2010 New York Event Style Awards, which were announced on Wednesday at a ceremony following our annual expo at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center (and tweeted live at @BizBash_News). Here’s a look at the winning work.
Best Centerpiece/Tabletop Decor
Spring in Flight: Clé de Peau Beauté Spring 2010 Color Collection
Submitted by EventStyle
For the debut of a new cosmetics line by Clé De Peau, EventStyle created an eye-catching dining area that reflected the style and colors of the collection. Designers topped a banquet table with a gold dupioni tablecloth and a runner of white orchids and greenery. Above, an overhead canopy incorporated dried branches and colorful silk butterflies.
Best Overall Catering at an Event
Exhibition Closing Dinner at MoMA
Submitted by Canard Inc.
For a Givenchy-sponsored dinner celebrating the end of Marina Abramović’s show at the Museum of Modern Art, Canard Inc. created a dinner that embraced the spirit of the exhibition. Menu items included crab and melon salad on a wonton tuile with elderflower gelée, heirloom tomato sashimi and banana polenta with pink peppercorns, and morel-dusted filet of beef with purple cauliflower puree, carrot gelée, and candied bacon jam.
Best Invitation Design
Chocolats de Provence Invitation
Submitted by Atelier Isabey
To celebrate the opening of the Chocolats de Provence store in Englewood, New Jersey, Atelier Isabey designed red velour-covered boxes that served as invitations. Each box contained information about the event, as well as custom chocolates with images of the new shop and artwork inspired by chocolate and Provence.
Best Staging/Set Design
mtvU Woodie Awards 2009
Submitted by 513
For the 2009 Woodie Awards—mtvU’s yearly ceremony crowning top musical artists chosen by college students—production studio 513 created a dynamic scenic design inside Roseland Ballroom. Looking to give the show the energy of a concert and a college party, the producers built multiple stages to accommodate six performances, used raw materials to accent the set, and projected video content onto the balcony railing’s walls.
Best Lighting Design
Preston Bailey Book Launch
Submitted by Levy Lighting NYC
To create three-dimensional versions of designs and installations illustrated in the book, Levy Lighting used larger-than-life projections and lighting to highlight the decor for the launch of Preston Bailey Celebrations: Lush Flowers, Opulent Tables, Dramatic Spaces, and Other Inspirations for Entertaining. Inside the raw space of the 69th Regiment Armory, the company shone oversize floral imagery and illuminated tree sculptures.
Best Nonprofit Event Concept
New York Public Library’s Library Lions Gala 2009
Submitted by David E. Monn L.L.C.
To tie into the New York Public Library’s past achievements and future goals, David Monn fashioned a winter wonderland of paper and cardboard for the institution’s Library Lions gala. Using white leaves and birds for texture, Monn decorated the Fifth Avenue building with 10-foot-long grapevine wreaths, paper tablecloths, cardboard place mats, and papier-mâché covers for the dinner’s first course.
Best Event PR Strategy
Nurse Jackie RX Games
Submitted by Showtime Networks Inc.
To promote Nurse Jackie’s second-season premiere, Showtime—with Interference Inc. and Stuart Weissman Productions—hosted a quirky competition between 15 teams of medical professionals and students at Gotham Hall. Creative games—like weeding out red prescriptions from white ones in a wind tunnel—tested key nursing qualities like speed, stamina, strength, endurance, and concentration. The Nurse Jackie cast presented the winners with $10,000, plus $50,000 for their charity of choice.
Best Entertainment Program/Concept
Target’s Party for Good
Submitted by Caravents
Guests manning the assembly line at Target’s ambitious volunteer project/party were kept motivated all night by an array of surprises woven into the evening. Celebrities like Adrian Grenier made video appearances to announce meal-kit milestones, American Idol’s Katharine McPhee performed live, and catering staff marked the halfway point by breaking into a choreographed dance while handing out ice cream.
Best New Product
Super Planner Mobile App
Submitted by Howard Givner
Super Planner is a new mobile business app for event planners. The multifunction tool includes calculators for venue capacity, staffing and catering needs, and staging and projection layouts, as well as useful tips and diagrams.
Best Corporate/Association Event Concept (Over $50,000)
Target’s Party for Good
Submitted by Caravents
As the title sponsor of this year’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service, Target merged the can-do spirit of a large-scale community service project with the glamour of a lavish benefit party. Four thousand guests enjoyed all the trappings of a marquee event—including live music, catered dinner, and celebrity appearances—while working together to pack 150,000 meal kits for the Food Bank of New York City.
Best Corporate/Association Event Concept (Under $50,000)
Green Halloween
Submitted by Connected Productions L.L.C.
Green Halloween is a series of three events to promote healthier ways to celebrate Halloween, emphasizing costumes and fun over candy. For one event, Connected Productions conjured “nature’s revenge,” with a theatrical setting that incorporated natural elements like Spanish moss and branches as well as LED lights and a 180-degree video projection with live performers. Spooky hors d’ouevres in the shape of skulls and jack o’lanterns added to the effect.
Best Overall Event Decor (Budget Over $50,000)
The Whitney Museum of American Art Gala
Submitted by Van Wyck & Van Wyck
Inspired by the magical “Green World” of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Whitney’s third-floor gallery became an enchanted garden, with a blank 200-foot wall transformed into a meadow rife with several thousand pounds of ferns, mosses, grasses, and leaves. The natural theme was complemented by elegant touches like gold mirrors peeking out from the foliage and pink Venetian chandeliers matching fuchsia floral centerpieces.
Best Overall Event Decor (Budget Under $50,000)
Georgina Chapman for Garrard Editor Preview
Submitted by Van Wyck & Van Wyck
For the preview of Georgina Chapman’s collection for London-based jewelry house Garrard, Van Wyck & Van Wyck referenced the avian-inspired line with a “Birds of Prey” theme. Designers used feather-trimmed linens, taxidermy, and a dramatic white, black, and red color scheme to set off the jewels.
Best Fresh Idea
TLC Summer
Submitted by LeadDog Marketing Group
To create awareness for TLC’s summer programming block, the cable channel grabbed the attention of locals and tourists with a branded glass truck/mobile pool parked at a busy Midtown intersection. Inside, synchronized swimmers and scuba divers performed while onlookers soaked up the summer theme with strawberry lemonade and TLC-branded flip-flops.
Best Use of Technology
BidPal Network
Submitted by BidPal Network
The Convent of the Sacred Heart’s spring auction benefit increased proceeds by 50 percent with the introduction of BidPal’s wireless handheld bidding system. Each of the school’s 500 guests was given an iPod Touch preloaded with every auction item, so that they could browse the selection, monitor bids, receive outbid notices, and make instant donations at any point in the evening.
Best Gift or Gift Bag
Super Saturday 12
Submitted by EventStyle
Gift bags at Super Saturday, an upscale sale that benefits the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, brimmed with 25 pounds of products donated by sponsors, including L’Oréal, Sally Hershberger, and Starbucks. The event, which was produced by EventStyle, raised more than $3.4 million.
Best New Venue
Skylight One Hanson
Submitted by The Skylight Group
Introduced last September, the Skylight Group’s newest property is a dramatic space inside the landmark Williamsburg Savings Bank. The venue has original Art Deco details such as a 40-foot mosaic of Dutch colonial New York and iron figures by Rene Paul Chambellan. In addition to the main bank hall, Skylight One Hanson offers a subterranean room marked by three 48-ton vault doors.
Best Video for an Event
Spotlight Gala 2009
Submitted by the Women’s Association of N.J.P.A.C.
This video, by Midnight Media Group, gave guests a look at the behind-the-scenes work that went into producing the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s annual fund-raiser. A time-lapse camera recorded the process of building a seven-foot-high platform over Prudential Hall’s orchestra section and stage, so the space could host both dinner and the show. Recording stopped about three hours before the event, and film was edited at the last minute.
