And the Winners Are 
Mark Bolas and his USC colleagues for their superbly creative combination of light-field rendering with hand-crafted puppets to generate compelling near-field virtual reality. 

SIGGRAPH 2015's Immersive Realities (AR/VR) Contest encouraged developers to create and showcase the best augmented/virtual reality experiences possible using today’s technologies. The three finalists demonstrate their work during Real-Time Live! (Tuesday, 11 August, 5:30-7:15 pm, West Hall B) and in the VR Village in South Hall G. The winning entry receives one Full Conference registration for SIGGRAPH 2016. If the winning entry is created by a team, the team decides who will receive the registration prize, which cannot be transferred to anyone else.

Discovering Near-Field VR: Stop Motion With a Touch of Light-Fields and a Dash of Redirection
This new type of surrealistically compelling virtual reality uses light-field rendering and hand-crafted stop-motion puppets to create “near-field VR”. To capitalize on the unique affordances that make VR so compelling, a USC research team developed a new pipeline that leverages image-based rendering techniques for capturing and rendering stop-motion animations that are rich with microgeometry and detailed surfaces.

Real Virtuality: Immersive Explorers
In this multi-user immersive platform combining motion capture with VR headsets, users can freely move within the physical space while virtually visiting the recreated interior of a pharaoh’s tomb and interacting with 3D objects or other users using the sense of touch.

Never Blind in VR
This system brings to HMD users many of the benefits of CAVEs while maintaining affordability and setup simplicity. You can see yourself and your surroundings, shake hands with others in the VR world, grab your coffee, walk, and avoid obstacles.