The ultimate test

As the judges convened to decide on the product shortlist for the 2012 Lighting Design Awards, perhaps the cruellest sport was watching the entrants before their big moment in front of our experts. For the second year in a row, product designers and technicians were asked to present their innovations to our specialist panel – cue a few furtive cigarettes, nervous pacing and a fair amount of tie adjustment outside the presentation room. This year, manufacturers sent representatives from as far away as Croatia and Germany to suffer a grilling from the judges – all to be in with a chance of winning one of the four trophies up for grabs in the LDA product innovation categories.

Panel of specialists

The panel, which once again consisted of specialists in every field of lighting, prodded, poked and played with the luminaires, lamps and lighting controls under scrutiny, all the while throwing a healthy number of curve balls in the direction of the contestants. After two days of judging, they arrived at this year’s shortlist: a Who’s Who of the leading innovators in the sector. Meanwhile, a completely different team of specialists convened to decide on the shortlist for the project categories. Now that this has been decided, they will undertake to visit the projects in person over the course of the next three months. The winners in all of the categories will be kept a closely guarded secret until the Lighting Design Awards, which take place on 21 March next year. To book your seat at the event go to: www.lightingawards.com or call Naomi Coombes on 020 7728 5290.

This year’s product judging panel

Ben Cronin – Editor, Lighting

Mark Johnson – SELC (and ILP)

Elliett Hall-Jones – IST Lighting Division

Stewart Langdown – Ceravision (formerly of Tridonic)

David Linville-Boud – Hoare Lea

Russell Lipscombe – Office of [Light]

David Morgan – David Morgan Associates

Faye Robinson – Troup Bywaters + Anders

Sam Wilkinson – Sam Wilkinson Design Studio

The Shortlisted Products

Interior luminaires

Jake Dyson - CSYS LED task light
Gamma Illumination - Lingo
ACDC - Azeta
Havells Sylvania - Concord LED Performance Cones
Reggiani Lighting - TTile In
XAL - TIMO 80 LED
Nualight - Zest
Eureka Srl - The Mayala Lamp

Lighting controls

PhotonStar LED - LEDsmart controls
Doyle & Tratt - Varilight V-Pro Eclipse remote control dimmer
Ex-Or - BattenFit sensor
Multiload Technology - MoodMaker

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