The HPA Awards committee has announced that Sphere, the next-generation entertainment medium that recently opened in Las Vegas, will be the recipient of the Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation for 2023. The honor will be presented to the Sphere Entertainment Co. team during the HPA Awards gala on November 28 at the Television Academy’s Wolf Theater in Los Angeles.
David Dibble, CEO of MSG Ventures, a division of Sphere Entertainment focused on developing advanced technologies for live entertainment, says, “Every aspect of Sphere — from the technology we created to capture content to how we tell stories in this new, multi-sensory venue — is a giant leap forward, and we are excited by the extraordinary possibilities this new medium offers. The entire Sphere team is honored to accept this award from HPA, and we look forward to continuing to push our industry forward through the innovative work we are doing at Sphere.”
Sphere offers multi-sensory immersive experiences across film, concerts and major events. To create these exclusive experiences, the in-house immersive content studio, Sphere Studios, develops and uses proprietary and cutting-edge technology and tools.
The world’s largest spherical structure, Sphere enables audiences to share immersive experiences at a never-before-seen scale. Sphere is powered by bespoke technologies, including its interior LED display – which at 16K x 16K resolution is the world’s highest resolution LED screen. The screen wraps up, over and around the audience to create a fully immersive visual environment. To capture the images and video required for this unique canvas, the team at Sphere Studios developed Big Sky, a groundbreaking ultra-high-resolution camera system and custom content creation tool, capable of capturing incredibly detailed, large-format images. In addition, the venue’s immersive sound system, Sphere Immersive Sound powered by Holoplot, is the world’s most advanced concert-grade audio system, ensuring crystal-clear, individualized sound within its unique curved design.
Sphere’s technological accomplishments also extend to its exterior, the Exosphere, which features 580,000 square feet of fully programmable LED panels capable of displaying a myriad of visuals.
The Sphere opened with the residency of U2, featuring U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere, a spectacular showcase blending their live performance with captivating visual elements. The first film ever created for Sphere, Darren Aronofsky’s Postcard from Earth, debuted as part of The Sphere Experience, a two-part multisensory journey that marks an inventive approach to content creation and storytelling.
The HPA’s Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation recognizes companies and individuals who exhibit outstanding contributions in the realm of creative storytelling and technical innovation. The honor is not awarded annually but is bestowed at the discretion of the jury. This year’s jury, co-chaired by Carolyn Giardina and Joachim Zell, also included Paul Debevec, Jay Holben, Joanne Kim and Karen Raz.
Previous recipients of the HPA Award for Creativity and Innovation include Peter Jackson for They Shall Not Grow Old, NASA and AWS for the first live broadcast from space, the Together at Home broadcast held during the pandemic, and David France and Ryan Laney for the groundbreaking use of technologies in Welcome to Chechnya.
Tickets for the event are available at hpaonline.com.
