Preparing for an exceptional 41st year, the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) has opened the Call for Entries in the 2024 cycle of its annual IALD International Lighting Design Awards.

Receiving an IALD Award is universally heralded as the top honour in the lighting design industry. Since its inception in 1983, the IALD International Lighting Design Awards has honoured lighting design that reaches new heights, moves beyond the ordinary, and represents excellence in aesthetic and technical design achievement.

Projects can be submitted for award consideration by any individual lighting designer or lighting design firm, provided they performed the design of the architectural lighting for that project. Eligible projects must be a permanent architectural lighting design solution for which construction was completed after 1st January 2022. Projects that were entered for consideration in the previous year can be resubmitted, so long as they adhere to the date requirements.

IALD Awards Co-Chair Yah Li Toh, IALD, CLD is thrilled by the start of another Awards cycle: “Given the success of the previous year, this is something to be excited about,” she said. “Being presented with such a volume of projects that maintain a high level of technical and aesthetic mastery is an indicator of our strength as a profession.

We’re proud to see the lighting design industry emerge so well from post-pandemic challenges. Around the world, designers and firms have adapted, evolved, and maintained integrity and excellence in their work. Our judges are eager to see and celebrate the results of that effort.”

A seven-judge panel spanning geographic locations and professional disciplines conducts two rounds of review, awarding points from a rigorous rubric of design criteria. The projects whose combined scores meet or exceed specific benchmarks can earn IALD Awards of Excellence or IALD Awards of Merit. IALD Special Citation awards may be given for a project that demonstrates a particularly innovative aspect of lighting design.

The IALD Radiance Award, the top honour of the IALD International Lighting Design Awards, is presented to the project that yields the highest point score, thereby being considered the finest example of lighting design excellence for the year.

Complete information on the guidelines for project submissions, required materials, and examples of the judging criteria are found on the official Call for Entries submission platform at https://iald.me/awardscall. Standard entries will be accepted from both IALD members and non-members through 26th February 2024, with a late-entry deadline of 17th March 2024.

After judging concludes in May 2024, award recipients will be notified in preparation for a celebrated public presentation to take place in October. As a combined in-person and virtual event, award winners will be revealed and celebrated through a global streaming broadcast simultaneously with a live ceremony taking place at IALD Enlighten Americas 2024 in San Diego, California, USA. In addition, numerous IALD Regions and Chapters worldwide will host gatherings where lighting design colleagues gather and watch the Awards ceremony in a more local metropolitan area. Further details on these 2024 Awards presentation formats will be announced across social media and on the IALD website, iald.org

Established in 1969, the IALD strives to set the global standard for lighting design excellence by promoting the advancement and recognition of professional lighting designers, with over 35 Regions and Chapters around the globe that support the interests of their respective local lighting, design, and architecture communities.

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