Novatech Named National Nominee in Two Categories at the 2026 Australian Event Awards
Following our 2025 national win as Production Company of the Year, Novatech Creative Event Technology has once again been recognised on the national stage, named a National Nominee in two categories at the 2026 Australian Event Awards.
The recognition marks another significant milestone for Novatech, acknowledging our work across major event production, technical innovation and creative delivery throughout Australia.
The 2026 national nominations span two categories:
- Production Company of the Year
- Best Technical Achievement or Innovation, in collaboration with RWS Global, for the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Adelaide 2025
Together, the nominations recognise both the breadth of Novatech’s production capability and the technical thinking behind some of our most innovative recent projects, while building on the national recognition received by our team in 2025.
Production Company of the Year
Novatech’s nomination for Production Company of the Year was supported by three major projects delivered across sport, special events and immersive festivals during the 2025/26 entry period:
- FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Adelaide 2025
- bp Adelaide Grand Final Grid Gala
- Parrtjima Festival
While vastly different in scale, environment and creative intent, each project presented a complex technical challenge and required the same foundations: experienced teams, detailed planning, strong collaboration and the ability to respond to changing conditions.
At the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, Novatech was engaged as the official production supplier for the first edition of the global tournament to be held in Australia.
Across The Drive and Pinky Flat in Adelaide, our team delivered full technical production supporting multiple temporary competition courts, including audio systems, LED screens for scoring, timing and broadcast playback, vision switching, lighting and technical integration. The highlight of this event from a technical standpoint was the Player Entry with a 5m x 5m ROE Visual Vanish transparent LED reveal with the teams set out to transform what would traditionally be a straightforward athlete walk-on into a distinctive moment within the event presentation, while operating within the strict timing requirements of international sport, integrated into broadcast workflows and performed consistently throughout the Championship.
The ten-day Championship required systems capable of supporting athletes, spectators and international broadcast while operating reliably across 216 matches and changing outdoor conditions. More than 40,000 spectators attended the Championships in person, with a global viewing audience of 42.3 million, placing the production in front of audiences well beyond the venue itself.
The bp Adelaide Grand Final Grid Gala demonstrated another side of major event production: the ability to adapt when the plan changes completely.
Originally designed around a high-energy Hot Dub Time Machine performance on the racetrack, the production was impacted when more than 30mm of rain made the outdoor performance environment unviable. With less than an hour before delivery, Novatech led a rapid production pivot.
Our team relocated the performance inside the event marquee, redesigning the show footprint, rerouting technical infrastructure and adapting the audio and lighting environment while maintaining artist requirements, event timing, safety and the experience for approximately 400 invited guests.
Rather than reducing or cancelling the entertainment, the team preserved the energy and impact of the original concept through a complete production redesign delivered in under 60 minutes.
At Parrtjima Festival 2026, the challenge shifted again.
Returning to Alice Springs for the festival’s 11th year, Novatech worked alongside We Are Gather and Artists in Motion to support the reimagined Ranges Show, using the West MacDonnell Ranges as the canvas for a large-scale immersive experience spanning more than a kilometre.
Novatech delivered lighting, vision, technical integration, control systems and operational support, with ROE Visual Vanish LED introduced into the foreground of the Ranges Show to create additional layers of depth and visual dimension.
An unusually wet season also revealed a noticeably greener Red Centre, changing the relationship between the landscape, lighting and content. The team responded by refining colour, contrast and intensity to maintain clarity and impact while ensuring the technology continued to work with, rather than overpower, the natural environment.
Parrtjima attracted 20,000 visitors across its ten-night season, including almost 8,300 attendances across opening weekend.
Together, these three projects demonstrate the range behind Novatech’s technical capability: from international sport and high-profile entertainment to remote, large-scale immersive experiences.
Best Technical Achievement and/or Innovation in collaboration with RWS Global
One element of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships also earned separate national recognition.
Novatech and RWS Global were named National Nominees for Best Technical Achievement or Innovation for the Centre Court Player Entry experience developed for the Championships. Working collaboratively with RWS Global and Volleyball Australia, the team set out to transform what would traditionally be a straightforward athlete walk-on into a distinctive moment within the event presentation.
The resulting technical solution centred on a 5m x 5m ROE Visual Vanish transparent LED reveal, supported by synchronised lighting, audio and content.
Athletes appeared behind the transparent LED surrounded by team colours and national flag content before emerging onto Centre Court, turning the beginning of each match into a cinematic and repeatable reveal.
Importantly, the solution needed to do more than look impressive.
It operated within the strict timing and movement requirements of international sport, integrated into broadcast workflows and performed consistently throughout the Championship without interrupting competition flow.
The broader LED system also supported scoring, broadcast imagery, commercial partner recognition, live content and event branding, requiring one technical environment to perform multiple roles throughout each competition day.
Through early concept development, previsualisation, technical planning, rehearsals and close collaboration between Novatech, RWS Global, Volleyball Australia and other event stakeholders, the concept was developed into a reliable production system capable of being repeated across the tournament.
The result helped shift the open-air sporting environment into an international arena, elevating athlete presentation for spectators while creating a visually distinctive moment for the global broadcast audience.
Innovation Built on Experience
Although the two Australian Event Awards nominations recognise different achievements, they are closely connected.
Delivering an ambitious idea in a live environment requires an understanding of how technology, creative intent, people, infrastructure, safety and operational requirements work together. It also requires systems that can adapt when an environment changes, whether that means 30mm of rain on a motorsport circuit, an unusually green landscape in Central Australia or the precision of an international sporting broadcast.
Across the three projects recognised in the Production Company of the Year submission, that ability took different forms.
At the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, it meant creating a new athlete presentation experience within the strict requirements and constraints of elite international sport.
At the bp Adelaide Grand Final Grid Gala, it meant redesigning a major live performance in under an hour to protect the event experience.
At Parrtjima, it meant adapting technical delivery to the landscape while supporting a large-scale creative vision across more than a kilometre of the MacDonnell Ranges.
That combination of creative technology, technical precision, adaptability and collaboration sits at the heart of both of Novatech’s 2026 National Nominee recognitions.
National Recognition for South Australian Event Production
As an Adelaide-based, family-owned technical production company, Novatech has delivered audio, lighting, vision and event technology in Adelaide and across Australia since 2001.
Being recognised nationally across both Production Company of the Year and Best Technical Achievement or Innovation is an achievement shared across our entire team and the clients, creatives, suppliers and event partners we work alongside.
We are particularly proud to share the Best Technical Achievement or Innovation nomination with RWS Global and to see the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships recognised both as an individual technical achievement and as part of the broader body of work behind our Production Company of the Year nomination.
The recognition is ultimately a reflection of the people behind the technology: teams capable of turning ambitious ideas into reliable live experiences, solving problems when circumstances change and continuing to push what technical production can contribute to an event.
We’re proud to represent South Australian event production on the national stage at the 2026 Australian Event Awards.
