Digital Signage Expo last night unveiled this year's Apex and Content award winners for digital signage deployments and digital signage content at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

The annual DSE Apex Awards honor innovation in the development and deployment of technology in the global digital out-of-home industry. Nominees are the end-use sites of the installation. There were a total of 30 finalists for the 2013 Apex Awards.

The annual DSE Content Awards recognize originality in content applications tailored specifically for the many and varied global DOOH audiences. Nominees are content developers, whether advertising agencies, network operators or end use network owners. There were a total of 28 finalists for this year's Content Awards.

Chosen by an independent panel of six industry professionals, the Content Award finalists were named from a field of nearly 70 entrants in nine categories, and the Apex Award finalists were named from a field of nearly 90 entrants vying in 10 major digital signage categories. Gold, Silver and Bronze Apex and Content awards were presented in each category at the show's fourth annual awards show banquet on the opening night of DSE 2013. DSE also presented Apex and Content awards of the year to one of the Gold finalists in each of the two.

The Apex Award winners were as follows:

Arts Entertainment & Recreation

• Westfield San Francisco Centre, nominated by Obscura Digital

Business Industry & Government

• San Francisco Public Utility Commission, nominated by Obscura Digital

Education & Health Care

• University of Waterloo Stratford Campus, nominated by Westbury National Show Systems Ltd.

Event Venues

• Antron Showroom, nominated by Float4 Interactive

Food & Beverage

• Dee Daa Restaurants, nominated by Arsenal Media

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Hospitality

• Swan & Dolphin Resort, nominated by Xpodigital

Interactive Self-Service

• Pepsi, nominated by Intel Corp.

Public Spaces

• Westfield Mall (U.K.), nominated by Scala Inc.

Retail

• Build-A-Bear Workshop, nominated by Build-A-Bear Workshop

Transportation

• CBS Ooutdoor, MTA Subway, nominated by MRI (Manufacturing Resources International)

The Content Award winners were as follows:

Arts, Entertainment & Recreation

• Second Story Interactive Studios, for content created for "Vault of the Secret Formula: Bubble-izer"

Business, Industry & Government

• Arsenal Media, for content created for "The Fountain of Content"

Education & Health Care

• Intermedia Touch Inc., for content created for Miami Children's Hospital Global Telemedicine Command Center

Event Venues

• Oklahoma City Thunder, for content created for Chesapeake Energy Arena Digital Signage

Food & Beverage

• Groupe Viva, for content created for Le 2 Pierrots

Hospitality

• Arsenal Media, for content created for The Tourisme Montérégie Experiential Tower

Multiplatform

• Arsenal Media and Converse Marketing, for content created for The Caterpillar Touchpoint Digital Program

Public Spaces

• Pearl Media, for content created for Chevy Interactive 3D Projection

Retail

• Rose and Thistle Media, for content created for Holt Renfrew 175th Anniversary

Transportation

• Inwindow Outdoor, for content created for Beneful Virtual Dog Park/Columbus Circle Interactive Wall

This year's Apex of the Year Award went to Build-A-Bear Workshop, nominated by Build-A-Bear Workshop. The Content of the Year Award went to Inwindow Outdoor, for content created for Beneful Virtual Dog Park/Columbus Circle Interactive Wall.

The awards ceremony got a little quippy with the award of the year announcements, with recipients vying with each other for the funniest bon mot to close the evening.

In accepting his company's award, a Build-a-Bear executive said, "It takes a village to build a bear," before the representative from Inwindow Outdoor said, in accepting his company's, "This award has really gone to the dogs."

Watch a "making-of" video of the Virtual Dog Park deployment below:

Learn more about digital signage content.