February 1, 2022   

Silhouette Awards shine a light on the 2022 rising stars of the industry

[UK: 1 February 2022] Shining a light on emerging talent within the lighting industry, the international Silhouette Awards has revealed this year's winners during virtual winners’ celebration which took place yesterday - the recording of the celebration can be viewed here.

The Silhouette Awards was established to find the industry’s rising stars who have the vision and ambition to steer and lead the lighting industry in years to come. Its esteemed judging panel, comprising senior influential lighting designers, have now confirmed the 20 winning entrants.

Entries were received from candidates across the globe, spanning 25 different countries, all demonstrating varying levels of experience. With an unexpected percentage of female entrants (79%), the judging panel, who reviewed the entries independently, were all aligned with the final selection showcasing the very best of the industry’s talent with an outstanding all-female winners’ line-up.

Successful candidates will now be individually supported by one of the programmes 20 mentors for the next six months and beyond as the young professional’s progress in their careers. With the support of the Silhouette Awards’ impressive array of sponsors and supporters, the winners have been rewarded with the opportunity to enhance their skillset, pursue their career ambitions and add real value to the creativity of the industry, raising the bar for talent around the world.

The 2022 winners and mentor partnerships are as follows:

• Winner: Valeriya Gorelova – Mentor: Anna Sbokou
• Winner: Rosa Alvarez de Arcaya – Mentor: Beata Denton
• Winner: Francesca Feltrin – Mentor: Dario Nunez Salazar
• Winner: Dipali Shirsat – Mentor: David Gilbey
• Winner: Laura Arroyo Rocha – Mentor: Fernando Mazzetti
• Winner: Alessandra De Martino – Mentor: Jonathan Rush
• Winner: Swathi Madhi – Mentor: Lara Elbaz
• Winner: Elsa Sawma – Mentor: Linus Lopez
• Winner: Momena Saleem – Mentor: Marci Song
• Winner: Frankie Boyle – Mentor: Marcus Steffen
• Winner: Qistina Ahmad Ali – Mentor: Martin Klaasen
• Winner: Beatrice Bertolini – Mentor: Melissa Mak
• Winner: Elena Volpi – Mentor: Michael Grubb
• Winner: Àfrica Sabé Dausà – Mentor: Monica Luz Lobo
• Winner: Iris Molendijk – Mentor: Rouzana Kopti
• Winner: Janice Lu – Mentor: Ruth Kelly Waskett
• Winner: Gabi Korac – Mentor: Sam Koerbel
• Winner: Doreen Colling – Mentor: Star Davis
• Winner: Rebecca Mintz - Mentor: Suzan Tillotson
• Winner:   Cristina Gil Venegas - Mentor: Victor Palacio

Eve Gaut, Co-Founder, Parrot PR & Marketing commented, “The Silhouette Awards was set up to recognise the future leaders of the lighting industry and showcase the very best of the best. The calibre of entries has far surpassed our expectations, and we were so proud to receive submissions from all over the world, clearly demonstrating the inclusivity of the industry and the appetite for this type of initiative.

“We are immensely grateful to all supporters, sponsors and mentors who have not only given up their time on the judging panel, but also committed to a further six months guiding these young professionals and helping them to advance on their individual career paths.”

Katia Kolovea, Co-Founder, Archifos, added, “From the initial conception of the Silhouette Awards, it was essential for both Parrot and Archifos to not only recognise the talent of the industry’s rising stars, but to offer guidance and support to the winners on their future careers.

“We were surprised to realise that, despite the judging panel individually reviewing each entry all 20 winners of the first Silhouette Awards are female. We are very much looking forward to seeing what’s in store for the next edition of this awards programme, and I would personally like to thank everyone that has been involved so far in helping us to achieve our longstanding ambition to showcase the talent of the future.

The journey is really only just beginning as we look forward and support these twenty new mentor-mentee relationships as they flourish and achieve great things together ”  

The Silhouette Awards has received widespread support from its sponsors Abby Lightingl Delta Light | FILIX Lighting | formalighting | GVA Lighting, Inc. l Iberian Lighting l LEDFlex Group l Light Projects l Pulsar and Vode Lighting LLC, whilst receiving widespread industry support from A1 Lighting l APDI|Arc | Designing Lighting|Designers Mind |IALD | Inside Lighting | The ILP |Lightecture | lytei | Skills Army |Society of Light and Lighting| STIR | VLDC | Workspace Design Show | Wavelength | Women in Lighting.

To find out more about the Silhouette Awards and how you can get involved as an entrant, mentor or sponsor for the 2022-2023 awards programme, contact info@silhouetteawards.com. The next edition of the Silhouette Awards will open for entries in September 2022.