Draft:Parnelli Awards
Annual awards for live event and concert tour professionals and technicians.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Parnelli Awards are annual honors recognizing excellence, innovation, and leadership in the live event and concert touring industry. The awards acknowledge individuals, companies, and technologies that contribute significantly to touring productions and live events.[1]
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Submission declined on 3 March 2026 by SocDoneLeft (talk).
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| Submission declined on 26 December 2025 by Pythoncoder (talk). This draft reads like an advertisement. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a platform for promotion or marketing. Drafts that are exclusively promotional may be deleted without notice.
Declined by Pythoncoder 2 months ago.Wikipedia articles must be written neutrally in a formal, impersonal, and dispassionate way. They should not read like a blog post, advertisement, or fan page. Rewrite the draft to remove:
Instead, only summarize in your own words a range of independent, reliable, published sources that discuss the subject. If you have a conflict of interest (e.g. you are the subject, an employee, or a relative) or are being paid to edit, you must disclose this to comply with Wikipedia's Terms of Use. | |
Comment: Prior review was correct. Please rewrite to avoid excess positive praise. Page comes off as an LLM-written advertisement. SocDoneLeft (talk) 21:53, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
| Parnelli Awards | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Excellence in live event and concert touring production |
| Country | United States |
| Established | 2001 |
| Website | https://parnelliawards.com |
History
The Parnelli Awards were established in 2001 by Patrick Stansfield and Terry Lowe, founders of the trade publications Front of House Magazine (FOH) and Projection, Lights & Staging News (PLSN). The first awards ceremony was held as a small industry dinner in Southern California. Over time, it expanded into a formal annual event recognizing achievements across multiple disciplines in live production.[1]
The awards are named in honor of Rick “Parnelli” O’Brien, a respected figure in the concert touring industry known for his work in production logistics and artist touring support, who died of cancer in 1999.[2][3]
Comparable awards
The Parnelli Awards are distinct from artist-focused honors such as the Grammy Awards, which recognize musical performances and recordings. Instead, the Parnelli Awards focus on the behind-the-scenes professionals in lighting, staging, sound and production management responsible for live touring and events.[4]
The awards are most closely related to the TEC Awards, which recognize technical achievement in audio and production across live performance, recordings, and broadcast media. Both awards are presented annually in conjunction with the NAMM Show.[5][6]
Award categories
The Parnelli Awards include a variety of categories reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of live event production. These categories honor technical roles, creative leadership, and organizational excellence. Typical award categories include:[7]
- Lifetime Achievement Award
- Audio Innovator Award
- Visionary Award
- Production Manager of the Year
- Production Designer of the Year
- Lighting Company of the Year
- Sound Company of the Year
- FOH Audio Engineer of the Year
- Monitor Engineer of the Year
- NextGen Award (emerging professionals)
Selection process
The first 3 awards, collectively known as the Lifetime Achievement honors, are selected by the Parnelli Board of Advisors[8] and announced prior to the NAMM Show.[9][10] The other awards use a two-stage process. Nominations are submitted annually by industry professionals, after which entries are verified and reviewed by the Board of Advisors. Finalists are then voted on by verified subscribers of FOH and PLSN magazines via a secure ballot system.[11]
Ceremony
Since 2016, the Parnelli Awards ceremony has been held in January of each year in conjunction with the annual NAMM Show[12] in Anaheim, California. The event serves as a major industry gathering for touring professionals, technicians, and production companies.[13] The awards have been described by industry commentators as the Grammys for live event personnel who work behind the scenes at concerts, tours and special events.[14]
Music entertainers often attend and perform at the awards ceremony as a recognition of the work being done by the award winners on their behalf. Over the years, this includes Garth Brooks, Todd Rungren, Kenny Chesney, Brooks & Dunn, Paul Anka, Alice Cooper, Adrien Belew, Tony Levin and Kevin Cronin.[15]
Past award winners
| Year | Lifetime Achievement Award | Audio Innovator Award | Visionary Award |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Brian Croft | ||
| 2002 | Mike Brown | ||
| 2003 | Chip Monck | ||
| 2004 | Bob See | John Meyer | |
| 2005 | Patrick Stansfield | Bruce Jackson | |
| 2006 | Jere Harris | Bill Hanley | |
| 2007 | Gerry Stickells | Bob Heil | |
| 2008 | Dennis Sheehan | John Meyer | Michael Tait |
| 2009 | Jake Berry | Stan Miller | Richard Belliveau |
| 2010 | Randy "Baja" Fletcher | Al Siniscal | Jim Bornhorst |
| 2011 | Ed Wannebo | Kenton Forsythe | Jim Fackert |
| 2012 | Charlie Hernandez | Dave Shadoan; Ross Ritto | Joe Branam |
| 2013 | George Travis | Mark Engebretson | Eric Pearce |
| 2014 | Benny Collins | Bob Goldstein | Howard Ungerleider |
| 2015 | Chris Lamb | Pat Quilter | David Cunningham |
| 2016 | Richard Fernandez | Greg Mackie | Danny O'Bryen |
| 2018 | Bobby Thrasher | John Stadius | Jonathan Smeeton |
| 2019 | Chris Adamson | Brock Adamson | Yvan Miron |
| 2020 | Mark "Springo" Spring | Karrie Keyes | Michael Strickland |
| 2021 | David Bernstein | Sam Berkow | Peter Morse |
| 2022 | Roy Lamb | Marty Garcia | Keny Whitright |
| 2023 | Jim Brammer | Buford Jones | Carol Dodds |
| 2024 | Malcolm Weldon | Dave Rat | Roy Bickel |
| 2025 | Marty Hom | Michael Laiacona | Marc Brickman |
The Audio Innovator Award was introduced in 2004 and the Visionary Award in 2008.
Winners in the other award categories can be found on the Parnelli Awards website.
Many of the Parnelli Award recipients are profiled in the NAMM Oral History Program.
Wikipedia articles must be written neutrally in a formal, impersonal, and dispassionate way. They should not read like a blog post, advertisement, or fan page. Rewrite the draft to remove:
Instead, only summarize in your own words a range of independent, reliable, published sources that discuss the subject.
If you have a conflict of interest (e.g. you are the subject, an employee, or a relative) or are being paid to edit, you must disclose this to comply with Wikipedia's Terms of Use.