Hello everyone,

Please post the official results of the 2019 edition of Montreal fireworks here!

Cheers,

Trav.

1 - Portugal
2 - Australia
3 - United States

To complete the previous post...

Best Soundtrack Award - United States (Atlas Pyrovision)
Green Award - Australia (Howard and Sons)

I am extremely happy with the outcome of this 35th edition of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition. During the past month, I have reviewed in this forum all the shows and I qualified three of them as excellent shows. These exact three shows ended on the podium! The exact order is slightly different than the preferences I have expressed, but these differences were minor and, some nights, I had a hard time to order them.

Grupo Luso Pirotecnia finally got a Gold Jupiter! Mélanie Cagnon, who is responsible of special projects at Grupo Luso Pirotecnia, was at La Ronde to receive the award and her enthusiasm was obvious! This is the very first Gold Jupiter won by a Portuguese entrant. In the competition history, 11 shows have been presented by Portuguese contestants. The first one, on June 2, 1986, was one of the most dramatic in the competition history: a technical problem caused the firing of most material within a very short timeframe, so the show last only 10 minutes. It was not until the 2000s that other Portuguese firms were invited to compete. The odyssey of Grupo Luso Pirotecnia in Montreal debuted in 2002 and comprises five extravaganzas. Of course, this Gold Jupiter is all about the 2019 performance, which was bold and extremely creative. The show was full of details, and I still spot “new” things each time I look at. Furthermore, I like to think this Gold Jupiter also rewards Grupo Luso Pirotecnia for its whole journey here, so to speak. Each time, “Luso” brought something new, very creative. This team definitely has a signature. I cross my fingers we have an opportunity to get a Grupo Luso Pirotecnia's extravaganza once again in Montreal!

Howard and Sons, as well as Atlas Pyrotechnics, also achieved excellent displays, with strong technical and pyromusical designs. I imagine that Howard and Sons team is disappointed to miss the Gold Jupiter again this year. It was probably very tight between Luso and H&S. Their “circular ramp” was very effective and allowed for a much more complex design than the usual layout. On one Facebook page - I think that was on Luso's one - I read a comment from Christian Howard who nonetheless congratulated the Portuguese team.

I had the opportunity to briefly chat with Stephen Pelkey from Atlas Pyrovision, following the closing show. He told us that it was much better to get the Bronze Jupiter than not being invited to the award ceremony! The night of his show, he was disappointed with the outcome from his tower and I feel that, following this, he wasn't confident to be on the podium. However, this structure aside, the Jungle Spirit turned to be an excellent show.

In my review, I claimed that Hanwha Corporations did a very good show with excellent products. Finally, I also qualified the Canadian show as a very good one, and the Italian performance as a good one. A couple of hours before the award ceremony, I tabulated the personal preferences of those who had expressed them in this forum, as well as in a Facebook forum composed of former members of the jury. I excluded those who admitted not having seen all the shows, as well as those who had not clearly ranked all their “top 3.” So I had data from a sample of 12 people. The Australian, Portuguese and American were clearly at the top of this ranking. Behind this leading group, the South Korean entrant was 4th. The Italian and Canadian teams were at the bottom of this particular ranking this year. However, we don’t know to what extent the actual jury's ranking matches with this one as only the top 3 positions are revealed.

Fred

I am very pleased with the results, as well! Indeed, finally, Grupo Luso was awarded with the Gold Jupiter!

And to finish Grupo Luso's famous line from 11 years ago....

And The Winner Is...

Cheers,

Trav.

I'm also very pleased with the results! It was a close race between Luso and Howard!

Sad to see one competitor (who didn't win) posting nonsense on Facebook trying to discredit the winners - so unprofessional. All the displays this year were great and everyone has their own personal favourite - plus we have to remember the displays are judged from La Ronde, where the view is quite different than outside.

Thanks, also, to everyone who participated in the forum this year - a small but dedicated group to whom I am forever grateful.


Paul.

Sad to see one competitor (who didn't win) posting nonsense on Facebook trying to discredit the winners - so unprofessional.

For one moment, I would put my hat of political science professor who specializes in political communication! Despite everything the current President of the United States does on Twitter, the social media - and the media generally speaking - is not the place to ventilate. We can certainly argue that a such behavior is unprofessional. Furthermore, it generally has bad consequences for those who make a such use of public communication.

I suppose that all those who have already participated in a such competition can understand the disappointment, even the frustration, felt by some contestants. But this is not a reason... Definitely better to keep your mouth close in the public space and to ventilate somewhere else. Just my two cents!

Fred