-By Stacy Straczynski

Diamond Baratta Design is right on HUE. The company is the first interior design firm to win the Benjamin Moore HUE Lifetime Achievement Award for its excellent use of and passion for color usage. The award, which consists of a $5,000 cash prize and paint-drop shaped glass-sculpted trophy, will be presented to the managing partners William Diamond and Anthony Baratta on May 5 at the New York Museum of Arts and Design.

Additionally, five other honorees will receive the award for their respective design categories: New York-based Ghislaine Viñas Interior Design (Residential Interiors); Washington, DC-based Envision Design, (Contract Interiors); Montclair, NJ-based Amy Wax (Residential Exteriors) and Scottsdale, AZ-based Allen + Philp Architects/Interiors (Contract Exteriors). Eikona Studios, based in Cleveland, OH, will receive a HUE Special Achievement Award for its commitment to restoration and preservation of mural art and masterpieces in the religious institutional sector.

“The entries this time reflected some truly top-notch architectural and interior design firms from across the country, and the HUE judges had their work cut out for them,” says Eileen McComb, director of corporate communications for Benjamin Moore. “Probably one of the most interesting outcomes of the HUEYs this year is the judges’ conscientious decision to break from precedence and this time honor interior designers Bill Diamond and Tony Baratta with the Lifetime Achievement Award. All previous recipients of this discretionary award have been architects.”

Judges for the 2010 HUE awards included principal of STUDIOS Architecture Thomas R. Krizmanic, AIA, LEED AP; director of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum Reed Kroloff; design and culture editor of The Los Angeles Times Magazine Mayer Rus; founder and president of Essie Cosmetics, Ltd. Essie Weingarten; and Tim Wisgerhof, former creative director for Saks Fifth Avenue and head of his own firm, TwoSeven, Inc.

The HUE list of winners, including the six 2010 honorees, now totals 24.