An eye-catching display hologram from the Hollywood blockbuster 'Avatar'® has won the 'Best of Year Award' for RabbitHoles Media Inc at the International Hologram Manufacturers Association's (IHMA) Excellence in Holography Awards 2010, sponsored by Holography News.

20th Century Fox teamed up with Acme Archives of Burbank, California and RabbitHoles Media Inc. of Gatineau, Quebec to distribute a series of three limited edition 3D Avatar holograms.

These depicted the character Neytiri, crouched in the Pandora jungle, which, according to the IHMA, captured the 3D characteristic of the movie as only holographic technology could. When viewers interact with the print, they experience extreme 3D perspectives on the Sprite's action, Neytiri's awestruck expression, and the rich jungle environment around them. The hologram was presented to the movie's director James Cameron at Showest in California in recognition of his services to 3D cinematography.

The award was presented at the annual holography conference Holopack•Holo-print® in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in November. The Holography Awards recognise outstanding industry achievement and are presented to organisations who have introduced the most innovative or commercially viable hologram product or technique over the year.

Organised by the IHMA, the 18^th annual Excellence in Holography Awards presentation  was attended by delegates from the worldwide holography community attending the Holopack•Holo-print®  conference.

A display of products from the winners and runners-up was also on show, signalling the breadth and depth of the technology's applications and commercial span.

The 'Brian Monaghan Award for Business Achievement' was made to Professor Alexander Goncharsky of Computer Holography Research Centre in at Moscow University. The award was presented in acknowledgement of his work as the leading exponent of electron beam (e-beam) origination of diffractive optically variable image devices (DOVIDs).

He has devised many complex image elements within the device, including key kinetic effects and numerous covert authentication features. Many hologram producers around the world turn to his Centre for high-security e-beam originations so his influence has spread all over the world.

The 'Innovation in Holographic Technique' award went to Toppan Printing Co Ltd for Asterium Hologram & Asterium ML, which makes use of modified embossing technology. Viewed in normal direct light this feature appears black, but when inclined at an extreme angle, the rainbow colours of an embossed hologram appear.

Judges singled out the true optical black feature which gives a new aesthetic to documents and only reveals the colourful security feature as and when required. This feature, previously thought impossible by some specialists, is intended for use on banknotes and similar highly secured documents and can, in addition, be combined with multi-layer film, embracing the overt element of this feature - drastic colour shifting.

Hologram Industries was also commended in the same category for α.DID® (Diffractive Identification Device), a next-generation optical security image which delivers distinct colour change as the device is rotated using zero order diffraction. It takes the form of a design composed of two distinct elements each reflecting a colour. The colours switch when the image is rotated 90° in the horizontal plane, making it very easy to use and recognize.

There was no winner in the 'Best Applied Decorative Product' category, but Vacumet was highly commended for the Presidente Beer Holiday Promotion. In this, the hologram was used across coordinated bottle labels, cartons and POS material for Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana's Presidente and Presidente Light beer products.

Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT won the 'Innovation in Holographic Production and OEM Product' award for its work on the explosive embossing of hologram production cylinders.

This process uses the percussive effect of an explosion to transfer the surface relief pattern of a holographic shim on to a steel cylinder for use as the manufacturing master, creating around 70 - 80000 bar for a split second at the surface of the master hologram, enough to transfer the surface relief pattern on the shim in to the steel surface. The result has a much longer production life than standard manufacturing masters, as well as finer resolution to give excellent manufacturing results.

The award for 'Best Applied Security Product' went to Papierfabrik Louisenthal GmbH for Kazakhstan's commemorative 1000 Tenge banknote with Varifeye Magic®. The note features not only a hologram showing typical rainbow colours but a small microlenticular patch viewed by transmission. The system is called Varifeye Magic® and this application represented its first use.

The technology has been praised for its level of sophistication - a window has been cut into the paper after laminating to a polymeric layer before a clear stripe of film is laminated over it running from top to bottom of the note. The clear stripe contains the microlenticular image of a camel interchanging with the letter 'K' when tilted.

This feature can be viewed by transmission through the window. There is also a demetallised holographic image of the Astana Baiterek monument above the text 'Organisation for Security & Co-operation in Europe', interchanging with the date 2010 which are viewed by reflection where it falls over the paper. Flexibility and modularity are obtained by the possibility of combining different OVD and smart window features.

Commended in the same category for its outstanding work was Romania's Zoomsoft srl for its IR-Label. The hologram in this application is intended to be invisible - it is sewn in to a garment, leather good or item where its 2D demetallised barcode can be read with a special camera and an infrared projector and information regarding the legitimacy of the label is retrieved over the internet. The label can withstand many years of water, washing and dry cleaning.

IHMA chairman Adam Scheer, who presented the awards, said: "These awards celebrate the very best in holographic achievement and the many remarkable innovations the industry produces every year.

"All the winners, and indeed the work of those commended, reflect the creativity, design excellence and quality which were the hallmarks of this year's crop of entries, reflecting how holography continues to push forward the holographic boundaries technically and commercially."

The full list of this year's awards and commendations for outstanding projects is available at www.ihma.org