Annual lighting design competition celebrates its 36th year.

Cooper Lighting, an industry leader committed to delivering innovative products and driving transformational technology in the lighting industry, has announced a call for entries for its 36th Annual SOURCE Awards national lighting design competition. The competition, which focuses on furthering the understanding, knowledge and function of lighting as a primary element in design, is open to all lighting designers, architects, engineers, professional designers and consultants who use Cooper Lighting fixtures in an interior or exterior design project. Students currently enrolled in any of these disciplines are also eligible to enter projects based on conceptual lighting designs utilizing Cooper Lighting fixtures, and are judged in a separate student category. This year’s competition will once again seek a creative use of fixtures providing energy-efficient design solutions in addition to standard projects.

The competition requires the primary and predominant use of any or all of the Cooper Lighting brands, which include Halo, Halo Commercial, Metalux, Portfolio, Neo-Ray, Corelite, Sure-Lites, Lumark, McGraw-Edison, Fail-Safe, Lumière, Shaper, IRiS, Ametrix, RSA, io, Invue, MWS and Streetworks.

Projects will be judged on the blending of aesthetics, creative achievement, technical performance and to the degree which the lighting met project constraints and design concept goals. There will be no minimum or maximum number of awards given, as each project will be judged on its own merit. Award categories will include: Winner, Honorable Mention and Award of Recognition.

Judging for the 36th Annual SOURCE Awards competition will take place in February 2013 by a professional, independent panel of lighting and design professionals as well as a representative of the SOURCE, Cooper Lighting’s premier lighting education center. The student winner(s) will receive a crystal trophy and a monetary award ($1,500) while the professional winner(s) will also receive a monetary award ($2,000) and a crystal trophy along with local and national recognition. Both the student and professional winners will also receive an invitation to attend a lighting seminar at the SOURCE, located at Cooper Lighting’s headquarters in Peachtree City, Georgia. The faculty adviser of the student winner will also be invited to attend a seminar. Entries must be postmarked on or before January 31, 2013. Winners will be announced in April 2013.

Throughout the competition’s 35-year history, winners have been awarded more than $600,000 as well as industry-wide recognition. Past entry applications have included commercial offices, retail stores, galleries, libraries, banks, hotels, restaurants, convention centers, entertainment facilities, churches and residences.