2023 WINNERS

BEST BRAND – CELTIC FIREWORKS – 42.7% of the vote

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Celtic fireworks are one of the largest importers of fireworks into the UK and for many years concentrated solely on professional F4 fireworks. Thanks to a demand from retailers and the public, Celtic started bringing in retail F2 and F3 fireworks just over a decade ago and their range has continued to grow each year since.
Celtic have always focused on innovation, bringing in retail versions of many of their popular professional products and routinely developing new effects with their dedicated technicians. By regularly visiting their factories in Liuyang and continuously sampling products, Celtic ensures their landed products are consistent and of top quality. The Celtic catalogue is ever changing, with spectacular new fireworks added each year.

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BEST SMALL CAKE – CELTIC DING DONG/DONG DING – 62% of the vote

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The winner of the best small cake 2023 is Ding Dong or Dong Ding by Celtic Fireworks. Ding Dong has been recently renamed and upgraded into the new Celtic Dong Ding – a powerful 16 shot garden firework which ejects huge silver swirling tourbillions into loud red and green strobe breaks. The size of the bursts and noise created by these colourful breaks maybe surprising considering the small stature of this cake but with just under 200g NEC of powder stuffed into sixteen 25mm tubes this cake outperforms many larger and more expensive fireworks.  

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BEST MEDIUM CAKE – PRESTIGIOUS PYROTECHNICS WHITE SPIRIT – 69.8% of the vote

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Prestigious Pyrotechnics have done it again! For the third year in a row, their White Spirit cake takes the award for best medium cake. White Spirit comprises 49 shots of white-tipped coconut breaks finishing with a spectacular triple volley. It is a perfect example of using pace and timing to create a stunning cake from a single effect. White Spirit is the first firework to have won an award three times and is sure to go down in history as one of the best medium cakes of all time.

 

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BEST LARGE CAKE – VIVID DELIRIOUS – 54.9% of the vote

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This spectacular large cake is not just multi-effect but also multi-shape, with straight firing, tridents, Z-sweeps and volleys producing a true display-in-a-box. The cake starts with bursts of gold brocade crown alternating with green glitter and purple stars. A W-shaped volley of gold tails to gold kamuro with silver strobe tips then leads into pulse firing of gold brocades to red plum, more W firing and then a fanned volley crackling brocade palms. The finale section features a rapid Z-firing fan of brocades and glittering stars before a stunning V-firing formation of gold crackling comet tails with bursts of green and blue dahlia to red ghost/plum. This unbelievable display contains just under 1Kg of NEC across its 83 shots.

 

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BEST ROMAN CANDLE – ZEUS ROYAL PALMS – 44.9% of the vote

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The winner of the best roman candle category for 2023 is a previous winner in 2021 -Royal Palms by Zeus Fireworks. Royal Palms is a high quality 300 shot quick-firing candle barrage, similar to those used in large scale professional displays. With stunning thick brocade palm tails with radiant blue pearls launching skyward to nearly 90 feet, whether used singly or in angled multiples, Royal Palms produces a stunningly professional looking effect.

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BEST WHEEL – ZEUS CAROUSEL – 76.7% of the vote

 

Zeus have done it again and won the best wheel award 2023 with their hugely popular Carousel.

Spinning like a carousel, this large Catherine wheel is driven by four powerful motors starting with a red glow building with golden floss and changing to brilliant bright silver rain. The effects in this square wheel build gradually and quietly and like all Zeus products the build quality and labelling is first class. Carousel previously won this award in 2021.

 

 

BEST COMPOUND – VIVID EL LOCO – 74.4% of the vote

 

Vivid Pyrotechnics have won best compound for the first time with their relatively new El Loco.

This compound fires 268 shots over two and a half minutes with a mixed tube size of 25 and 30mm.

El Loco starts big with ten instantaneous shots breaking with beautiful blue and gold willows flanked by ghost horsetails then into rapid straight firing red blink brocades, white tipped brocades and a fanned volley of ti-chrysanthemum and that’s just in the first 30 seconds. Fans of vividly coloured crossettes, crackling spider breaks and willows follow, climaxing in a huge series of fanned multi colour peony and ti-chrysanthemum volleys and a final volley of dirty gold to crackle brocades. This compound is truly worthy of the title ‘a display in a box’.

 

BEST DUMP CAKE OR MINE – CELTIC BREXIT – 62.2% of the vote.

 

This potent dump cake was originally intended to be the finale to a Celtic compound but when seen live at a factory demo night, it was brought on its own as a single dump cake. Brexit fires 25 huge fanned brocades instantly, filling the sky in just a few seconds and is the perfect cake to start or end a display or to add a stunning hit in a pyromusical.

 

 

BEST FOUNTAIN – ZEUS CRAZY CONE – 44.5% of the vote

 

Crazy cone is a category F2, 400g conic fountain which runs through a multitude of effects over 80 seconds. It starts quietly with a gold fountain which rises to twelve feet, followed by the addition of ti-chrysanthemum crackle, then coloured stars. The fountain then transitions into a more intense crackle with a gold plume which intensifies just before the end. Crazy Cone was a runner up in 2021 and this year takes the best fountain award.

 

BEST BARRAGE PACK – CELTIC 6-PACK – 67.7% of the vote

 

The 6-pack by Celtic Fireworks has been around for several years now and is one of the most cost-effective ways to achieve a mixed aerial garden display. The pack features six, sixteen shot cakes, each lasting just over twenty seconds. The cakes defy their size, producing a range of effects that are very impressive for F2. These include crackle clouds, coloured tipped brocades, multi-colour peonies, silver willows and ghost effects.

 

BEST LOW NOISE – PRESTIGIOUS PYROTECHNICS CRAZY CROSSETTES COMPOUND – 66.2% of the vote.

 

Crazy Crossettes is a relatively new compound – the first in the UK to solely feature crossettes. The compound starts with straight firing multicolour crossettes with white strobe mine lifts. The pace speeds up as it enters the next section – a beautiful series of fanned willow tailed silver to blue crossettes. Then we see the same effects but straight fired, followed with a rapid Z-firing to close the 141 shot display. Truly unique and beautiful in execution, this Crazy Crossettes compound is our best low noise firework of 2023.

 

BEST ROCKET PACK – VIVID REAPERS – 65.4% of the vote

 

The best rocket pack of 2023 is the Vivid version of the ever-popular hawk style rocket pack – Reapers. The pack contains five rockets, each with 68g NEC with each providing a different effect including silver brocade with red blink, gold brocade with blue stars, gold brocade with silver blink, gold brocade with red blink and a huge silver brocade. This is one of the only variants of the hawk packs with no crackle, giving it the edge for many enthusiasts.

 

 

 

BEST ROCKET – FUNKE ALFA 1 – 43.7% of the vote

 

Funke have finally done it and won their first award in the best rocket of 2023 category. Their Alpha 1 rocket, available singly or as part of the Alpha pack already has high acclaim from firework enthusiasts thanks to its absolutely huge brocade crown with red pistil burst and narrowly beat Celtic’s Monster rocket to claim the title. This rocket contains 165g NEC of powder and has one of the longest hang times of any rocket ever available to consumers.

 

 

BEST SELECTION BOX – JONATHAN’S GALA – 73.9% of the vote

 

Jonathan’s have a proven track record in this category, previously winning best selection box two years running for their Shindig box. This year they have won the award for their smaller Gala selection.

This category F2 garden pack contains 19 individual fireworks including a Catherine wheel, four rockets, seven fountains, three roman candles and four cakes and combined contains a weighty 654g NEC of powder. This selection is a smaller version of their Shindig pack and would be a great display for a smaller garden with lots of variation.

 

 

INNOVATION AWARD – VIVID F2PRO SLICES – 51.5%

 

The innovation award was our most closely fought category with Vivid’s F2Pro slices just scraping past Prestigious Pyrotechnics Crazy Crossettes compound to take the win.

Vivid was the first importer to bring in low noise F2 slices and this selection has proved very popular with firework enthusiasts wanting to add a professional touch to displays and pyromusicals. Each case contains twelve separate slices which include white strobe mine, red strobe with blue stars, brocade crown mine, orange pearl, pink pearl, crackling mine with time rain tails, green strobe mine with red glitter tail, blue head with gold tiger tail, red head with silver tiger tail, blue pearl, purple pearl and red pearl versions. Innovation is key with many of Vivid’s products and it is their third win in this category, previously winning an innovation award for Screaming Demons in 2021 and Marvel in 2022.