Please post here the winners of the 2018 edition of Montreal fireworks!

Trav.

First of all: Congratulations to dragon fireworks. From my point of view it was the best display of this season and it deserved the best place. Im super proud of Vander I was quite optimistic about the gold. The season in general was medium-high level in terms of pyromusical design, I am sure it would have been much higher with Australia in it, but the thing is that two of the shows were superb, and considering the weather problems to me the gold was clear. So no surprises.

Second: to me the position of the american display is quite unfair. The decision shows a lack of knowledge of fireworks design and technique. I know it is not very nice to criticize the jury decision since it is suposed to be democratic and well-funded, but I feel I have to give also my point of view about it. I have the feeling the weather has more to do with the third place than the fireworks themself. It is also possible that the soundtrack of the austrian show was more appealing to the jury, as it was the theme, but i dont think both shows can be compared in terms of fireworks design. The austrian show was a good one (nice theme devolopment, recognisable music, some interesting effects and an effective finale) but in the same weather conditions the USA show would have been much more apprecited by the jury than the austrian one.


Then... Should we blame the weather or should we blame the jury?


Moreover I would like to point that the design of the austrian show had many similarities with other shows from other companies, from my point of view something more than only “inspiration”. If the jury would have been people involved into the fireworks world they wouldnt have missed this at all in the chapter of pyromusical design.


Actually is not the first time “weird” things happen with the winners of this competition, I still cant get over the decision of making Canada winner over Sweeden, France or Spain in 2005, the first year I attended the competition. A delirium.

I kind of understand why Austria scored higher than the USA. Coming to the competition with the same exact theme and music type as a past show from the same company does not scream originality. I find that Austria connected to me emotionally more so that the USA show, even if the rock music was enjoyable. Having a highly complex show does not necessarily mean it'll be better. It has and will always be about the 'total package'.

As for the 2005 year, I would know a thing or two. I was part of the jury, and to this day I have no idea how Canada scored to be third. The order was nowhere near what I predicted, but what can you do. Law of averages make sure things even out ... sometimes lol. It was the last show, so I guess it connected more on an emotional level, even with all the technical faults (same for Sweden though, not saying they deserved to be excluded).

For this year, I was thinking Philippines, USA, Austria. Oh well, getting an award is still a great honor in itself for this competition. Congrats to all, and on to another season next year!!

- Dan

The complete results are:

Gold Jupiter - Dragon Fireworks (Philippines)
Silver Jupiter - steyrFire (Austria)
Bronze Jupiter - Pyrotecnico (United States)

Best Soundtrack Award - Dragon Fireworks (Philippines)
Green Achievement Award - steyrFire (Austria)

***

I am very happy with these results and not very surprised.

In my review of the Philippines show, I concluded: Soon, we will know whether some of these [Pokémon] lyrics, as well as the title of the last soundtrack segment, “Victorious,” are prophetic. The game is not over yet. Well, the game is over and these elements were prophetic! That show transported me in a rare state of euphoria. Also, I rarely felt a such level of consensus regarding a given Gold Jupiter. I believe that (almost) everyone was happy for Dragon Fireworks.

I suspect that Pyrotecnico representatives were disappointed with the Bronze Jupiter. While I found the show excellent and I ranked it in the 2nd position of my personal ranking, I wasn't totally surprised. In the prediction thread, I predicted a Silver Jupiter for the American team, but I also qualified this prediction with a reservation, as I wrote: I feel that opinions about the American entrant are much more diverse than what I could have imagined before chatting with other fireworks fans. For that reason, I would not be so surprised if Pyrotecnico has the Bronze Jupiter. Before the award ceremony, tonight, I chatted again with two other fireworks aficionados: USA was the third choice of one, and it was not in the top 3 of the other person. There are certainly many reasons for this. The decrease in visibility due to the smoke and the wind direction is surely one reason, but it is not the one and only reason. We must remind that Royal Pyrotechnie/Fireworks Spectaculars Canada won the Gold Jupiter in 2014 with the same wind direction, as well as RICASA in 2016. While a such diversity was not reflected in this forum, I believe that - the Philippines case aside - opinions were pretty diversified. To conclude, we should keep in mind that winning a Jupiter prize, whatever the position, is itself a great achievement. This is the 19th Jupiter prize won by an American entrant, but the very first one since 2012.

I am also very happy that steyrFire is among the winners. It was my third choice, but I thought the Austrian team could miss the podium because their position in the schedule. As I wrote in the prediction thread, I hypothesized that Giuliani would be favoured by the schedule. It wasn't the case, so the jury did not succumb to the recency effect. This is the 2nd Jupiter prize for an Austrian company, following the Bronze Jupiter won by Günter Vogler in 1997.

***

What a rainy night!

Fred

Congratulations to all of the winners! I am especially happy that Dragon Fireworks of the Philippines was awarded with the Gold Jupiter and Soundtrack Award!

EDIT: Also notice the faster movement of the Philippines flag icon on the schedule page. That must have been a sign this entire time!

Trav.

The closing ceremony

https://youtu.be/lDo_hflStI4