Home Entertainment Industry Championed At Prestigious 30th BVA Awards Ceremony

The trade organisation which represents the most important audiovisual sector in the UK, honoured the cream of home entertainment last night at a glittering 30th Anniversary Awards ceremony in London, presented by high-flying comedian Alun Cochrane.
The event, hosted by The British Video Association (BVA), which attracted more than 1000 guests and was generously sponsored by the online home entertainment retailer The Hut, recognised the outstanding creative and commercial achievements of companies whose performances and results throughout 2009 made them stand out within the hugely competitive home entertainment market place.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and their creative agency, Hicksville, fought off tough competition to be awarded the trophy for 'Creative Initiative of the Year' for their brilliant outdoor campaign to promote Terminator Salvation. Hicksville went on to win the important 'Agency of the Year' award for their work with a number of BVA member organisations.
The increasing success of Blu-ray was noted with Star Trek XI winning the 'Best Blu-ray Title of the Year', as voted for by consumers at Zavvi.com and thehut.com. Furthermore, the efforts of the Blu-ray Partners in establishing the hi-definition Blu-ray format as the future of packaged media, were rewarded with the acclaimed 'Industry Initiative of the Year' award.
Warner Home Video’s Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was celebrated for having outsold all other titles in 2009, making the sixth Harry Potter film the deserving winner of the 'Retail Title of the Year' category.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment won 'Retail and Rental Distributor of the Year', having ended 2009 with a final volume market share of 15.9%.
The highly prized 'Marketing Initiative of the Year' for film awards were divided into three categories this year, according to box office revenue. The winners were: Momentum Pictures for their work on The September Issue (up to £3 million Box Office category), Paramount Home Entertainment UK for Watchmen (£3 to £10 million Box Office category) and E1 Entertainment for Twilight (over £10 million Box Office category). E1 Entertainment also came away from the evening with the award for top 'Rental Title of the Year' for Twilight.
Universal Music/ Metropolis Group and Eagle Rock Entertainment/ Eyeframe were recognised in the authoring categories winning Best British Authored Blu-ray and DVD respectively.
In recognition of her almost 17 years in the role as Director General of the BVA, Lavinia Carey was named Industry Individual of the Year. Anthony Peet, Chairman of the BVA said: "From VHS to DVD to Blu-ray and into the digital world, Lavinia Carey has championed us and our industry needs, representing the home entertainment business both in the media and at governmental level, nationally and internationally. It is more than fitting, that tonight, on this 30th anniversary of the British Video Association, we acknowledge the work she has achieved."
Hannah Conduct, Marketing Manager of the BVA, reported that the judges were deeply impressed with the high standard of nominations and winners this year. She said: "The 2010 BVA Awards have been a wonderful success and the BVA, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, is enormously proud to be the representative trade body of such fantastic creative and commercial talent."
(BMcN/GK)