Certamen:  Tarragona Firma:  First Class	Autor:  . Origen: Tarragon
	PIROART.COM - portal de pirotecnia, 17/07/2008. _Nº:_1117

Catalá

The Great Prize from the Public of the 19^th International Fireworks Displays Competition Ciutat de Tarragona was awarded to the German company First Class Pyro Events. They had fired the third display on Wednesday 9^th July.

4,562 people voted with ballot papers at the three ballot points located in Rambla Nova, Rafel Casanova promenade and on Miracle beach, or on the internet at the official site www.piroart.com. First Class obtained an average of 8.3 points and got 3,000 € as the Great Prize from the Public, apart from the Venus Ciutat de Tarragona.

Therefore, this year the prize from the official jury and the public’s are not the same, as it had happened some time before. This is what usually happens when the difference between the first and the sixth competitor is very little, and this year this difference was only 1.5 points. To make a comparison, last year the difference was of 4.30 points, almost three points more than this year.

The competition keeps its standard

If we compare the last two years’ competitions, we can see that the average of the votes from the public is practically the same, that is, 7.7 points. If we compare the average mark given by the official jury, this year it’s slightly higher. Last year the official average was 7.49, while this year’s is 7.96.

Once the competition is over, the organisation has done some evaluation. It’s important to highlight that the Swedish company Gotteborg and the German First Class brought to Tarragona many more staff members that those the organisation was paying. Also, the organisers insist on the great effort made by the Basque company Pirotecnia Astondoa, who managed to fire their display in spite of the terrible weather conditions they had to endure. In this respect, the competition’s specifications state that it’s compulsory to have two alternative firing systems, which facilitates the firing if the circumstances are so problematic. 

Accredited companies and media

Among the many pyrotechnics professionals and apart from the participants, some companies from Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Slovakia, France, Holland, Italy, Norway and China were accredited, as well as those from Spain, coming from Aragon, Andalusia, Catalonia, and Valencia. It’s important that the director of the fireworks competition in Rome also came to Tarragona to know about the competition. Among the accredited media was the first channel of the public Belgian television: VRT. About web sites specialised on pyrotechnics we have, apart from the official portals:

• www.vuurwerkcrew.nl (Holland)

• www.firework-hunters.net (Germany)

• www.freakpyromaniacs.com ( Holland)