Introducing the CEDIA Smart Home Awards

Refreshed Program Includes Health, Sustainability, or Wellness Projects and Other Changes

By Wendy Griffiths, CEDIA Senior Vice President, Membership, and Global Development

The CEDIA Awards have been a cornerstone of the home technology industry for decades. Around the world, integrators, manufacturers, and visionaries are celebrated on a grand scale for exceptional work. That’s something that’ll never change.

But as the industry evolves, so must we, which is why we’re proud of the additions and expansions to the awards this year.

First, we’ve introduced a new category: Health, Sustainability, or Wellness. Integrators who approach projects with this mindset are truly carrying out CEDIA’s mission to enrich lives through technology. We want to recognize those integrators who are actively listening to their clients’ health needs, finding ways to reduce waste, and creating more mindful lifestyles.

Second, the Best Integrated Home category will no longer use monetary values to define its four levels given large variances in cost of living. Instead, we will take into consideration the surrounding areas in which a project was completed.

The Best Integrated Home category now includes:

Mass Market Integration: A project in a home with value near the average sales price for the area.

Mid-Market Integration: A project in a home with value well above the average sales price for the area but not considered part of the luxury market.

Luxury Integration: A project in a home located within a small subset of homes and estates in the most desirable areas.

Uber Luxury Integration: A project in a home located within a rare collection of the area’s most elite.

Inclusivity is important at CEDIA, and these new definitions allow us to better represent projects in different countries and reflect our global membership. For instance, a project in one location may have a vastly different price point than the same project in another location. This approach also enables us to recognize integrators who may be just starting out and are working their way up toward more luxury integrations. The expansion also avoids any ambiguity about projects that fall right on the cutoff of a price point or those that are just short of the entry level.

When entering “Best New…” companies will share information on where their product is available, so that it can be recognized across regions. As for the Product Hall of Fame and Training categories, the process remains the same.

Finally, as we work to build awareness of CEDIA among the general public, we must consider our place in the industry. One of our purposes as an association is to be a viable link between consumers and allied trades to CEDIA members around the world.

That’s why we’ve decided to change the name of the CEDIA Awards to the CEDIA Smart Home Awards. It’s a subtle change that we hope will have a big impact. As we continue our longterm goal to build brand awareness for CEDIA, a more descriptive name will help winners’ clients understand the significance of the award.

The new Health, Sustainability, or Wellness category and the newly expanded Best Integrated Home category join ten others in the Home Technology Integrator portion of the awards, including the five newly rebranded Excellence categories (formerly, Best of). Previously, the winners of these sub-categories were only chosen from the pool of entrants in the main categories. Now, integrators may apply directly for recognition in the Excellence category, which includes Documentation, Innovation, Lighting, Rack Building and Design, and User Interface Design.

As always, CEDIA will continue to recognize the industry’s most active volunteers and leaders through the Volunteer of the Year Awards, CEDIA Fellows, and the Lifetime Achievement Award. The Manufacturer Awards have remained relatively unchanged, although this section has been expanded to be more global.

As for the CEDIA Smart Home Awards celebration, we’re excited to be hosting our annual ceremony at CEDIA Expo once again and across the EMEA and APAC regions. The theme for this year is “The Art of Technology.” We’re continuing to work with our incredible events team to elevate the experience at the awards ceremony, so they continue to be an occasion that is highly anticipated year over year.

I encourage you to find out more about the CEDIA Smart Home Awards at cedia.net/ awards. Integrators may submit their projects now through April 21 for consideration and manufacturers now through May 19. If you’d like to share any feedback or ask a question about the awards program, please contact awards@cedia.org.

We look forward to seeing the latest innovations and high-quality workmanship from CEDIA members around the world. x