Congratulations to the Winners of the
2023 IESNYC Student Lighting Competition

The IESNYC is pleased to announce Anirudh Anand, Priyanka Shah, and Aarohi Mittal from Parsons New School, as the Grand Prize winners for their lighting project "Beyond the Veil."

Over 100 students from design colleges and universities across New York City participated and displayed their innovative lighting projects at LEDucation Trade Show & Conference on March 7th. This year's theme, Circle of Light challenged students to construct a three-dimensional study, exploring how light plays a role in the cyclical nature of life. Light has a critical function in many of life's cycles like the human circadian rhythm, the lunar phases and the changing of seasons. The cycle of light can be considered with regards to a product life cycle and the cycle of sustainability or how light engages in the circularity of life itself.

“The Student Lighting Competition had a successful return to a live format,” says Shaun Fillion, LC, Educator IALD CLCP and co-chair of the Student Lighting Competition. "One of our committee's goals was to increase the number of professionals who attend the competition. The crowd of visitors exceeded our expectations, with approximately 800 professionals meeting the students and providing feedback on their work. Our committee is grateful to LEDucation for welcoming the Student Lighting Competition. The students benefited both from the professionals viewing their projects, and from exploring the LEDucation show and seeing the size and energy of the lighting industry. We hope to return to LEDucation in 2024!”

Enjoy the amazing creativity from each student submission.

Share with your friends and colleagues and celebrate the award winners!

Grand Prize Winners

Anirudh Anand, Priyanka Shah, and Aarohi Mittal
Parsons New School
Project Title: Beyond the Veil

"Beyond the Veil" celebrates and laments the fleeting moments of interaction that we all share with millions of other city dwellers each day. Figures that are obscured from view are revealed through shadow and reflection upon a veil. They swirl and mingle, changing with every moment, offering glimpses of silhouettes as they move. These moments of revelation mirror the way in which our only interaction with most of the people we see each day is fleeting and superficial. Our understanding of the totality of the city is limited to the glimpses we get as we go about our days. Through its play of shadow and movement, the installation celebrates the transient beauty of the precious moments we share with strangers — the rare, unique moment when diverse, complex individuals interact for the first and only time. Beyond the Veil prompts us to appreciate the beauty and complexity in everyday moments, and to question the nature of our existence within the larger circle of life.

View the Video

2nd Place
Qianhui Lino, Pratt Institute
Project Title: Dimple

3rd Place
Fia Huston, Pratt Institute
Project Title: Infinite Reality Box

Honorable Mention
Yinuo Liu, Pratt Institute
New York City New Aquarium

Honorable Mention
Chanbin Im, Pratt Institute
Project Title: Dazzling Shadow

Honorable Mention
Jiayan Li, Pratt Institute
Project Title: Halo

Honorable Mention
Wan-Chien Lin, Parsons New School
Project Title: Bio-Shimmer

About the IESNYC Student Competition

The IESNYC Student Lighting Competition is dedicated to our founder, Patricia DiMaggio. As an NYC educator and past president of IESNYC, we uphold Patricia’s goals of education, community, and friendly competition. Having grown from 8 students in 2000 to over 100 students today, it is a legacy which will continue to grow with all your support.

One of the goals of the IESNYC is to promote education and greater awareness about the importance of lighting and the Student Competition is one of the contributors towards these efforts. Since 2000, they have invited students from New York City Art and Design schools to participate in a city wide design competition. The competition empowers students to explore light as an art form, demonstrate light as a stimulus, and prove light as a valuable medium. Every year, students in lighting, architecture, interior design, art, product design, photography and electrical engineering programs have submitted projects, resulting in a diverse showcase of ideas and interpretations on a single theme. The IESNYC Student Competition has been incorporated into the curriculum lighting classes in several area schools and has piqued an interest in lighting design of close to a thousand design students to date.

Student Eligibility: Students must be attending a design college or university located in the five boroughs of New York City, or the New York counties of the former Mid-Hudson Section (Columbia, Dutchess, Green, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester) are eligible to submit, regardless of residency

If you have any questions, please email [email protected]