LOS ANGELES — The Hollywood Professional Association (HPAonline.com) announced the nominees for its 2026 HPA Awards Innovation & Technology program, marking an expanded evolution of the organization’s Engineering Excellence Award. The awards celebrate exceptional contributions to entertainment technology.
For nearly two decades, the HPA Engineering Excellence Award recognized groundbreaking engineering achievements. The HPA Awards Innovation & Technology program broadens that tradition, honoring advancements across multiple categories covering the entire production life cycle, from pre-production through distribution and audience experience. This expanded framework highlights technologies making a measurable impact on the professional media and entertainment ecosystem, spanning film, television, streaming, advertising and branded content experiences.
The 2026 HPA Awards Innovation & Technology category nominees are:
Innovation in Pre-Production
Bria AI – GenAI Attribution Technology
RivetAI, Inc. – RivetAI
Yamdu – AI Script Breakdown and Management Add-On
Innovation in Production & Capture
American Society of Cinematographers – Media Hash List
Creamsource – Slyyd Lighting Control App
Méduse Inc. – Safe Guns Phase-Synced Flash-Gun System
Innovation in VFX, Virtual Production & Animation
Foundry – Nuke Stage
Nerfstudio and Industrial Light & Magic – Nerfstudio
Volinga and XGRIDS – Virtual Production Pipeline
Innovation in Post-Production
Adobe – Generative Extend in Adobe Premiere
Flawless – TrueSync
Storj – Production Cloud
Innovation in Distribution & Audience Experience
Cineverse – CINESEARCH
SyncWords Inc. – LiveCore + Kobe Muxer
V-Nova Studios – V-Nova PresenZ
Winners of the five nominated categories will be announced on Wednesday, February 18th at the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat. The HPA Transformative Impact Award and the HPA Tech Retreat Best in Show Award will be presented on Thursday, February 19th, at the close of the Retreat.
Judging criteria for the Innovation & Technology categories included innovation, current industry impact, technical merit and adoption of readiness. Nominees represent tools and technologies that are impactful today and reflective of forward momentum. Judging panels were curated by experts with deep technical expertise and hands-on knowledge of the workflows these technologies support across the production pipeline.
