Now this is a bit more like it. We’ve seen a lot of awards shows recognize work in VR over the past few months, but almost all of them have been concerned with gaming.
While VR games are great, they don’t fully reflect the diverse ecosystem of content that headsets are already starting to facilitate. The 8th annual Lumiere Awards, set to take place on February 13th in Hollywood, are a little different. The ceremony just announced nominations and recipients of this year’s awards, and it does a pretty excellent job of reflecting the breadth of the VR industry right now.
For starters, Cher Wang, CEO and Chairwoman of Vive maker HTC, will be granted the Sir Charles Wheatsone Award. It’s given in recognition of the groundbreaking room-scale VR breakthroughs the Vive has made possible since its launch in April last year. Of course, Vive’s room-scale tech was created with the help of Valve and its SteamVR system too.
This year’s Century Award, meanwhile, is going to Google Earth VR, a Vive app that lets you explore the world around you in 3D. It’s an award that isn’t presented every year, and only given to works that “created a milestone” for tech and content. Having spent extensive time in Google Earth VR ourselves, we’re inclined to agree.
Finally, Jungle Book and Iron Man director Jon Favreau will be given the Harold Lloyd Award for filmmaking. This is a notable achievement for VR too as the director is working on a VR series, Gnomes and Goblins, which a press release makes specific mention of.
On top of these honors, the 2017 edition of the awards includes expansive categories for VR content. Highlights include a Gaming list with the likes of A Chair in a Room, Accounting, Raw Data and others nominated among the usual suspects like Batman: Arkham VR and Job Simulator. Film Experience recognizes the likes of Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine and Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. There are also categories for Animation & CGI, Live Action, Episodic Content, Documentary, Journalism, Sports, Music, and Branded content.
