The 10th Curry Awards took place at Battersea Evolution on Monday December 1. More than 1600 guests packed the venue to witness the lavish ceremony, attended by Home Secretary Teresa May, saying that Indian restaurants were as much of a British tradition as the local pub. Stars of the stage and screen also attended the event hosted by TV’s Kate Silverton and comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli, to showcase Britain’s finest spicy culinary talent.
The attendees were welcomed by the founder of The Curry Awards Enam Ali MBE. Hawthorn created the technical production for the awards. There were 2641 restaurants nominated in 13 categories, with the winners chosen by public votes. This year, a phenomenal 206,378 public votes were received. In a special video message played at the event, Prime Minister David Cameron said: “These awards are a great night for this country. Curry is one of our country’s greatest achievements and one of our most exciting exports too” - testament to the curry as integral to British culture.

Peter Harding, director at Hawthorn, designed a stunning awards set. The main feature was an LED panelled proscenium arch that ran the length of the stage. Hawthorn created special graphic content for the show, all running from their Avolites Ai media server. At the rear of the stage a large LED screen showed awards winners and sponsors logos, and was complemented by two large screens either side of the stage so that the 1600 strong audience had clear sightlines for the ceremony proceedings and image projections. Blue led lighting wash effects, complemented by Clak Paky Sharpy beams were used to enhance the LED star clothed room ceiling to create an electric atmosphere. A four-camera team filmed the awards ceremony, which will be broadcast on Colors TV on Christmas Day.

Justine Ali, producer of the Curry Awards congratulated Hawthorn saying: “Thank you so much for all your hard work and to your wonderful team who despite the many challenges we faced that night delivered yet another spectacular show. It looked amazing and all our guests are singing praises of how stunning the show was.”