The Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) Theatre judging panel has announced its eagerly anticipated shortlist for this year's ceremony, which will take place at London's glamorous Troxy club on Sunday 4th October.

Organised by the ALD, STLD, The Fifth Estate Ltd and Clay Paky and now in its 8th year, the KOI Awards is a celebration of the creative talents of international lighting and digital content designers working in the UK across TV, Theatre and Concert Touring and Events.

The Theatre shortlist is the first to be revealed, after a panel of senior critics from national newspapers deliberated over the finest lighting and video work from the categories of Dance, Musicals, Opera and Plays.

The shortlist is as follows:

DANCE - Judged by Luke Jennings from The Observer and Mark Monahan from the Daily Telegraph

Lucy Carter for Woolf Works, Royal Ballet

Howard Harrison for Edward Scissorhands, Theatre Royal, Plymouth, Sadler's Wells & touring

Robert Sondergaard for A Picture Of You Falling, Sadler's Wells.

MUSICALS - Judged by Georgina Brown from the Mail on Sunday and Samantha Marlowe from The Times

Neil Austin for Assassins, Menier Chocolate Factory

Mark Henderson for Gypsy, Chichester Festival Theatre & The Savoy

Amy Mae Smith for Sweeney Todd, Harrington's Pie-Shop, Tooting.

OPERA - Judged by Richard Fairman from the Financial Times and Anna Picard from The Times

Alessandro Carletti for Guillaume Tell, Royal Opera House

Paul Pyant for The Corridor & The Cure, Britten Studio, Aldeburgh

Mimi Jordan Sherin for The Girl of the Golden West, English National Opera.

PLAYS - Judged by Georgina Brown from the Mail on Sunday and Samantha Marlowe from The Times

Richard Howell for Playing For Time, Sheffield Crucible

Tim Mitchell for Taken At Midnight, Minerva Studio, Chichester and Theatre Royal Haymarket

Paul Pyant for The Nether, Royal Court & Duke of York's.

VIDEO -

Paul Barritt for Golem, Young Vic (Drama)

Ravi Deepres for Woolf Works, Royal Ballet (Dance)

Luke Halls for Król Roger, Royal Opera House (Opera)

David Benedict, The Arts Desk critic and chair of the Theatre panel comments: "It has become obvious that ever more sophisticated video techniques and imagery are being used to increasingly imaginative and dramatic effect. Thus it's particularly valuable that, three years ago, an additional award for video/projection design was added to the Knight of Illumination Awards.

"It is no exaggeration to say that the quality of lighting design in live theatre across the UK continues to rise, as evidenced by the fact that this year's judging session was the most fiercely contested yet. It's not just about the quality of the work of the nominees, but the clear strength of dozens of productions from among the (literally) hundreds seen by the judges. Lighting, excitingly, appears to be in robust health."

KOI co-ordinator Durham Marenghi adds: "Unintended consequences here, having such an experienced and influential judging panel looking specifically at lighting and projection for the KOI Awards there now seems to be far more mention of lighting in the national press reviews of productions across all theatrical genres, thus raising the profile of lighting design in the UK."

This year's event is sponsored by Ambersphere Solutions, Ayrton, FIX8Group, Hawthorn, Light Initiative, MA Lighting, OSRAM, Robert Juliat and XL Video and supported by ABTT, ET Now, Lighting and Sound America, Lighting and Sound International, Mondo*dr, The Theatres Trust and Total Production International. Table sponsors include: AC Entertainment, Avolites, Creative Technology, d3, ETC, GLP, Green Hippo, Howard Eaton Lighting, Philips Vari-Lite, PRG, SGM, Stage Electrics, TMB, TSL and VER.