40 Under 40 Making its return last year, the 40 Under 40 awards announced its Class of 2021 in an online ceremony on 15 December.
The end of 2021 saw the return of the 40 Under 40 Awards. Resurrected by Filix Lighting and Light Collective, the 2021 instalment was the 6th edition of the awards, with the winners announced on 15 December. The 40 Under 40 Awards is designed to highlight an honour young and outstanding individuals who work in a creative capacity within the application of lighting in architecture. Nominations are accepted from international candidates under 40 years old, and nominators must cite why they are exceptional; candidates should be passionate about lighting and display outstanding talent and potential, and have demonstrable achievements in the field. The returning 2021 competition elicited a huge response from the lighting design community, with just over 300 nominations received. Entries spanned across 36 countries, with the UK and the USA home to the most submissions. While these regions have long been hubs for lighting design, the spread of entries from other countries demonstrates how lighting design continues to grow across the globe. The global nature of the lighting industry was also reflected in the awards’ judging panel. The 6-person panel comprised Paul Traynor (Light Bureau, UK); Regina Santos (Light Fusion, UAE); Elias Cisneros (333 Luxes, Mexico); Aviva Gunzberg (NDYLight, Australia); Randy Reid (Designing Lighting, USA); Christine Sicangco (Christine Sicangco Lighting Design, Philippines). The judging panel had a difficult task to determine the top 40. Winners were selected through a points scoring system, and it went down to decimal points to decide the final 40. Judges commented on the overall quality of the submissions, and due to the close nature of the results, organisers and judges alike have urged those who missed out this year to consider trying again next year. Christine Sicangco said: “This year’s candidates are genuinely talented and very creative, and it was a challenge to pick the winners. They all had a great understanding of light and though the entries were very diverse, it is wonderful that everyone is brought together by light.” Paul Traynor added: “The standard was so high that I wondered if I would have made the standard if the 40 Under 40 existed when I was under 40. There were some really outstanding entries.” “I worry a bit about the lighting design community, but when I saw the talent, when I saw the projects, when I saw the work that went into the entries, it gave me great hope that our 034 / 035