Jan 30, 2009 2009 Special Event Magazine Gala Award Winners Global Events wins three including Best Overall Event Special Event Magazine held their 2009 Gala Awards Dinner on January 30th in San Diego, California, with nearly 700 industry professionals in attendance. Global Events received three awards, including ‘Best Overall Event: Overall Budget Above $500,000’ for Renault’s Laguna Launch. The Renault Laguna Event was also awarded ‘Best Theatrical Entertainment Production’, and their work on the Real Madrid Championship Celebration was recognized for ‘Best Use of Lighting’. This year's competition drew nearly 400 entries in 35 categories from Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, England, Germany, Spain, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and the United States. The Gala Awards have been given by Special Events Magazine, the premier industry publication, since 1986, when the awards honored the "top 10 events of 1985." They recognize the finest work in special events worldwide. About Renault’s Laguna Launch, To boost both employee and retailer morale for a car line, the event team staged a splashy four-day program including meetings, car exhibition, gala dinner and lavish entertainment. Going beyond a presentation of the new car models themselves, the entertainment program stressed the resurgence of the brand via spectacular elements including fire and light cannons, water screens and hidden fountains. The show was staged on a huge platform system built beneath the surface of a lake. About Real Madrid’s Championship Celebration A soccer pitch served as venue for the "Real Madrid Championship Celebration"; lighting was key to transform the space, which could not hold heavy structures. Spotlights produced stroboscopic flashes to transform the darkened stadium into a star-filled sky for the 80,000 attendees. More than 50 technicians worked nonstop for a day and a half with only one night to rehearse and check lighting for a production that would be attended by 100,000 and broadcasted to 10 million people.