Draft:VR Awards

The VR Awards is an annual awards ceremony held in London, recognising "outstanding achievement" in the field of virtual reality (VR). VR Bound has produced and hosted the ceremonies since 2017. The annual ceremonies are partnered with international initiatives to inspire, enhance and support new technologies and advancements in VR, and introduce VR to a new generation of users. The awards are not exclusive to entertainment, categories also include VR in Healthcare, VR in Education and Training and the VR Social Impact Award. These awards are designed to raise awareness for VR’s potential as a force for social change. The awards ceremonies also feature a 3 course meal, live entertainment and music.

History
Co-Founders Daniel Colaianni, Jamie Van Amstel and Kelly Wright launched The VR Awards in 2017. The trio also forms the core team of directors at VR Bound. The awards were founded on the principle that the immersive industries were not doing enough to recognise companies and individuals that deserved to be celebrated both for their innovation and achievement.

The inaugural awards were praised for being “one of the largest events celebrating achievement in VR”. Following this success, it was announced that The VR Awards would be returning in 2018.

The second annual VR Awards were held on October 16th 2018. Categories were expanded upon for the VR Awards 2018, with the inclusion of "VR Architecture of the Year" and "the VR Social Impact award". The VR Social Impact Award sought to celebrate projects from atypical industries, who do not specialise in virtual reality, but who have found new ways to communicate good causes through the medium of VR. While "VR Architecture of the Year" was included to exemplify the great variety of VR projects that stretch into different areas of business.

Process
The VR Awards has an open, peer nomination process; organisations, companies and individuals can also nominate themselves. In total there are twelve categories up for awards. A specialist panel narrows the nominees down to a shortlist. The panel then selects one winner from each section using a points-based model. The winners are then announced at the annual award ceremonies.

The VR Awards has an invitational panel of more than 40 members, including leaders in the field, academics and representatives from news organisations.

2017
The inaugural 2017 awards took place at the Central London venue, 8 Northumberland Avenue, on October 9th. The awards were produced in collaboration with principal sponsors AMD Studios and Foundry

Judges included Dr Jo Twist OBE (UK Interactive Entertainment CEO), Sarah Jones (Birmingham City University, Head of School for Media), Nick Button-Brown (BAFTA’s Game Committee Chair & Sensible Object COO), Dominic Collins (Jaunt VR & General Manager EMEA), Megan Gaiser (Spiral Media CEO), Dean Johnson (Brandwidth, Head of Innovation), Chris Freeman (Head of Digitally Assisted Assembly, Boeing), Deniz Ergürel (Founder, Haptical), Kam Diba (Founder of Reverge VR), Tyler Hopf (IrisVR, Creative Director), Kris Kolo (VR/AR Association, Global Executive Director), Stephanie Llamas (Super Data Research, Director of Research and Insights), Daniel Corey ( ImageComics, Author), Andrew Douthwaite (WEARVR COO), Nonny de la Peña (Emblematic Group, CEO), Thomas Gere (VR Entrepreneur & Investor) and Amol Sharma (VRCommerce, Founder & CEO)

The categories and winners for 2017 were:


 * VR Headset of the Year — Rift by Oculus
 * Mobile VR Headset of the Year — Daydream View by Google
 * VR Hardware of the Year — Touch by Oculus
 * VR Game of the Year — Raw Data by Survios
 * Innovative VR Company of the Year — G’Audio Lab
 * VR Experience of the Year — Tilt Brush by Google
 * Most Creative use of Marketing in VR — IKEA VR by IKEA
 * Interactive VR Media or Film of the Year — Allumette by Penrose Studios
 * VR Start-up of the Year — LiveLike
 * Best Use of VR in Education & Training — ITI Crane Simulator by Industrial Training International
 * Best Use of VR in Healthcare — ImmersiCare by Tribemix
 * Best Out of Home VR Entertainment — Ghostbusters: Dimensions by the VOID

2018
The VR Awards 2018 took place at 8 Northumberland Avenue,London on October 16th, 2018. For 2018 Altspace VR the VR Awards also be took place within Virtual Reality

The award categories and winner's for 2018 are :


 * VR Headset of the Year - HTC Vive Pro
 * VR Game of the Year - The Gallery - Episode 2: Heart of the Emberstone by Cloudhead Games
 * VR Experience of the Year - Manifest 99 by Flight School
 * VR Film of the Year - Carne y Arena by ILMxLAB
 * VR Marketing of the Year - Coco VR by Magnopus
 * Rising VR Company of the Year - Neurogaming Limited
 * Innovative VR Company of the Year - Ultrahaptics
 * VR Social Impact Award - Window to our World by VISYON & The Cornerstone Partnership
 * VR Architecture and Real Estate of the Year - Boston - Creating your dream house before it's even built by Nanopixel
 * VR Education of the Year - HoloLAB Champions by Schell Games
 * VR Healthcare of the Year - Virti by Virti
 * Out-of-home VR Entertainment of the Year - Star Wars Secrets of the Empire by ILMxLAB

The judges for The VR Awards 2018 will include Lauren Selig (Founder, Tangled Little Dragon & Bake Productions), Helen Situ (Founder, Virtual Reality Pop), Rob Scott (BBC Education), Jenn Duong (VR Director), Jonathan Nafarret (Editor-In-Chief, VR Scout), Luciana Carvalho Se (REWIND, Business Development), Tipatat Chennavasin (Venture Reality Fund, General Partner), Ed Greig (Deloitte Digital), Amber Osborne (Doghead Simulations, Chief Marketing Officer), Eyed Hamouieh (Moore Stephens), Bobby Carlton (Immersive Tech Consultant & Contributing Writer for VRScout), Nathan Brown (Tommorow Never Knows CEO), Nicola Rosa (Accenture Digital), Tom Emrich (Super Ventures, VC & Wearable Expert), Dominic Collins (Jaunt VR, GM EMEA), Megan Gaiser (Spiral Media CEO), Sarah Jones (Birmingham City University, Head of School for Media), Jason Lovell (Jaunt VR, Director of Brand Partnerships), Chris Freeman (AMRC with Boeing, Theme Lead for Digital Manufacturing), Deniz Ergürel (Founder, Haptical), Kam Diba (Founder, Reverge VR), Josh Naylor (Unity Technologies, Senior Evangelist), Sean Earley (INSCALE, VR Consultant), Steve Dann (lified Robot CEO), Samuel Huber (admix.in CEO), Kris Kolo (VR AR Association, Global Executive Director), Stephanie Llamas (Super Data Research, Director of Research and Insights), Daniel Corey ( ImageComics, Author), Steve Takle (TheVirtualReport.biz, Editor), Rowland Manthorpe (Sky News), Andrew Douthwaite (WEARVR, COO), Nonny de la Peña (Emblematic Group CEO), Kevin Williams (Founding Chairman of DNA Association), Thomas Gere (Realities Centre CEO), Giuseppe Crugliano (PlayMagic CEO) and Stefano Petrullo (Founder, Renaissance PR).