This year’s Fulldome Festival that is traditionally held in Jena has just finished, and it’s high time to announce award winners in all categories. But before we put these proverbial cards on the table, let’s introduce the people who agreed to donate their time and expertise to review the fulldome screenings that were displayed during the three days of the 2016 Fulldome Festival, which has marked the 10th edition of the event. The jury was formed from dedicated professionals, including Aaron Bradbury, Prof. Hans-Christian von Herrmann, John Lakey, Jürgen Weishäupl, Kelley Francis and Dr. Marina Masic. Working independently, the jury members decided which shows deserve a JANUS Award along with prize money and certificate. All in all, the Janus Fulldome Awards have been presented to 10 out of 93 Fulldome Festival contributions eligible for awards. So, let’s shed light on the winners of the 10th Fulldome Festival, shall we? Here are the best fulldome feature shows, short films and student works of 2016 that deserved their Janus Award:

• Director's Award: We are stars by NSC Creative
• Award for Use of Innovative Production Technologies: "The Secret World of Moths" by Hannes Vartiainen, Pekka Veikkolainen (Nordic FullDome Production, Finland)
• Special Best Short Film Award: Samskara by George Aistov (FullDomeLab, Chiang Mai, Thailand)
• Special Award for Best in Science Visualisation: "Clockwork Ocean" by Ralph Heinsohn Artworks (Ocean Mind Edutainment, Helmholtz-Zentrum, Geesthacht)
• Frameless Frenzy Award: "Intensional Particle" by Hiroaki Umeda, Tokyo (S20, as part of Mons 2015, European Capital of Culture)
• Creative Award: "Scalarat" by Nicolas Gebbe (HfG Offenbach)
• Performance Award: The Shadow by Joanna Saleta (University of Silesia, Poland)
• Emphasis on Emotion Award: "Aurelio" by Johannes Ott (Hochschule Darmstadt, FB Media, im Rahmen der Hessischen Film- und Medienakademie hFMA)
• Audience Award: "protokoll_001" by Sriram Srivigneswaramoorthy (HfG Offenbach)
• Sound Award: "Kikakoku!" by Kate Ledina (Bauhaus University, Weimar)
• First Year Students’ Award: Cernunnos by Patrick Pomerlau and Sean Caruso (University of Sherbrook; Québec, Canada)

The FullDome Festival Honorable Mentions for outstanding and innovative productions:

• A Murmuration of Light by Dan Arnold and Rich Clements (MORPHOS residency, Denver, USA)
• Art Universe by David Gardner & Chris Saunders/George Aistov (Likuid Art/FullDomeLab, Chiang Mai, Thailand)
• Aurora, Experiencing Real Substorm by Kwon O Cheol (Hug media, Seoul, Republic of Korea)
• Capturing the Cosmos by Melbourne Planetarium (Museum Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
• Chiang Mai Deep Trip by George Aistov (FullDomeLab, Chiang Mai, Thailand)
• Flower Universe by Makoto Azuma (NHK Enterprises/P.I.C.S; GOTO Inc., Tokyo, Japan)
• Incoming! by California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco, USA)
• "MultiVerses" by Sean Caruso (Société des Arts Technologiques, Montréal, Canada)
• Solar Superstorms by Spitz Creative Media, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and Thomas Lucas Productions, Inc., in association with the Fiske Planetarium (C.U. Boulder, USA)
• Take Flight by Morehead Planetarium and Science Center (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, USA)

The FullDome Festival Finalists (who have been selected by the jury in addition to the awarded contributions and have been shown at the FullDome Festival Gala):

• "Beweise genug" by Denise Röhrig, Anne Pischulski (Hochschule Darmstadt, Germany)
• "Clay Highway" by Ruben Olguin (University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA)
• "fecund" by Irene Garibay Sánchez (Fine Arts Department, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, USA)
• "GODS" by Jing Augusto-Wüthrich (Bauhaus University Weimar, Germany)
• "Hive" by Brianne Gagg (Motion Design Department, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, USA)
• "Lucent Matter" by Sylvana Lautier, Rose Leahy, Kim Yip Tong (RCA Fulldome Research Group, Information Experience Design, Royal College of Art, London, UK)
• "om mani padme hum" by Jordan Daher (Fine Arts Department, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, USA)
• "Prelude to a Race" by Maria Lopez Valdez (Bauhaus Universität-Weimar, Germany)
• "protokoll_001" by Sriram Srivigneswaramoorthy (Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach, Germany)
• "Samskara" by Haoran Zhou, Yuxiang Tang, Shuangyan Liu, Wenyue Qi, Sheng Feng, Jing Yang, Liu Zhejun (The College of Arts and Media ,Tongji University, Shanghai, China)
• "Tempel" by Olga Falko, Diana Suyerbayeva (Bauhaus University Weimar, Germany)
• "The Light of Home" by Michaela French (RCA Fulldome Research Group, Information Experience Design, Royal College of Art, London, UK)
• "Visions Of Paradise" by Alice Kilkenny (RCA Fulldome Research Group, Information Experience Design, Royal College of Art, London, UK)

We congratulate all the festival winners, participants and attendees, and wish them creative achievements in the future! Couldn’t make it to the Festival? Want to relive these past days once again? Further updates are on the way!