IBC Innovation Awards Judges

The international panel of judges for the IBC2010 Awards are on the lookout for creative technology solutions that work, deliver real benefits and help move the industry forward.

The enhancement of the user experience is an important factor in the judging. Up to three nominations will be short-listed for each award and announced prior to IBC2010. All winners, including the Judges' Award, will be announced at the IBC2010 Awards Ceremony, which will start at 18:30 on Sunday 12 September.

Members of the international panel of judges are:

Michael Lumley spent most of his career with the BBC. As a producer, director and executive producer he specialised in large-scale ceremonial and political events: he was in charge of the outside broadcast coverage of the wedding of HRH Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer. He became a director of BBC Resources with responsibility for its UK-wide production facilities. His major interest today is in the use of technology to enable new creative and business opportunities for programme makers.

He is a fellow of the Royal Television Society. He has extensive experience in judging creative and technology awards, and chairs the IBC Innovation Awards panel.

David Crawford is a professor at the University of Essex in the UK, with interests in mobile and broadband networks. He is also a director of the French high technology company TeamCast, which develops digital transmission equipment. He has held senior posts with a number of blue-chip companies, including British Telecom in the UK and Bell Labs in the USA, where he led a research group on  HD transmission.

Until 2004 he was managing director of the European broadcast business unit of Harris Corporation. Actively involved in a number of international technical standards bodies, he has chaired working groups on transmitter standards for ETSI, led two technical groups for the European DVB Project (on broadcast to mobile terminals for DVB-UMTS and on spectrum issues for DVB-H), and sits on the FLO Forum working on its mobile television standard. As well as a bachelor's degree, he holds a masters in telecoms and a PhD in image coding.

Fergal Ringrose is editor of TVBEurope magazine and the TVB-E electronic newsletter. He is also editor of The IBC Daily, the official newspaper of IBC. Before establishing TVBEurope, Fergal was a director of Production Industry Publications Ltd in Ireland, where he launched the country’s first audiovisual business magazine, Playback, and the first guide to the Irish film and television production business, Ireland On Screen.

Prior to that he was a director of BSO Publications Ltd in London, where he was editor of International Broadcasting (formerly Systems & Operations) magazine. Fergal is a member of the Irish Film & Television Academy and the Royal Television Society, and holds a Master of Arts degree in communication studies from California State University at Sacramento.

Phil Sandberg is the publisher of online white paper library broadcastpapers.com and Asia-Pacific industry journal Content+Technology. He has spent over 16 years reporting on technology and policy issues affecting the TV, radio and recording industries throughout Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.

Past credits include IBC Daily News, TV Technology & Production magazine, Broadcast Engineering News, Internet World Australia, Radio World, Production Solutions, Pro Sound News Asia, Personal Investor magazine and The Australian newspaper.

In the position he has filled since launching the magazine in 1991, Kevan Jones is the publisher and managing editor of AV Specialist magazine.

Kevan is based at Dubai Media City in the United Arab Emirates and is recognised as a leading media personality who has travelled extensively throughout Africa and the Middle East.

Journalist Carolyn Giardina has spent more than 15 years covering media and entertainment, with emphasis on the impact of technology. That has included coverage of global transitions toward digital cinema and DTV, as well as activity in stereoscopic 3D.  Her credits as an editor, reporter and/or columnist include "The Hollywood Reporter," "Shoot," “TVB Europe” and “The IBC Daily News.” She has also been an on-camera reporter for the syndicated cable program from "The Hollywood Reporter,” and has been interviewed for stories by such media outlets as BBC, USA Today, KTLA Los Angeles and NZ1 New Zealand. Based in Los Angeles, Carolyn serves as a member of the Hollywood Post Alliance Board of Directors, and she co-founded and chairs its annual HPA Awards.

Dick Hobbs has been at every IBC for 25 years and in every capacity: as an exhibitor, running a marketing communications company, as a journalist, a conference chair, and as editor of IBC Daily and IBC TV News. Now he is a well-known independent commentator and consultant, contributor to a number of industry journals, and a regular speaker at industry events.

Although he is fascinated by technology, throughout his career his real interest has been in the application of technology to do things better, faster or more creatively, and so is a natural supporter of the IBC Innovation Awards.