New Residential Lighting Award Added to Tesla Awards, 50% Discount Offered for Submitting Projects Early
The 2026 edition of the National Lighting Bureau’s (NLB) 7th Annual Tesla Awards will have a new category – a Special Citation Award for Exemplary Residential Lighting – sponsored by the American Lighting Association (ALA). Submitted residential projects will be eligible and judged on innovation and application effectiveness — with emphasis on the illustration of best practices that can be adopted across similar residential applications including (but not limited to) single-family, multifamily, and 55+ housing.
In addition, for the second year in a row, submitted projects will be eligible to receive a Special Citation Award for Innovative Lighting Controls, sponsored by the Lighting Controls Association (LCA).
The main intent of the Tesla Awards is to promote best practices for a wide variety of indoor and outdoor lighting applications. The program goes beyond highlighting beautiful architecture by recognizing projects that provide a narrative and “how-to” guide for others with similar lighting challenges.
The awards program recognizes excellence in lighting projects that – through the creative use of lighting systems and controls – illustrate the value of lighting including (but not limited to) improved visual performance, promotion of health and wellness, positive environmental impact, enhanced safety and security, and increased overall occupant satisfaction. The program also provides recognition for creative solutions that overcome exceptional challenges or provide outstanding community benefit.
Anyone in the industry may enter a project for the Tesla Awards. New construction and retrofit projects should have been completed within the 2023, 2024 and 2025 calendar years. Submissions should be entered via the designated online submittal process by January 19, 2026 to qualify for the Early Bird entry fee of $50 per submission. For entries received after January 19 and no later than February 2, the entry fee is $100 per submission. Winners will be announced in April during LEDucation 2026 in New York City.
Judging criteria include:
• Innovation
• Application effectiveness – adherence to high quality lighting principles
• Energy effectiveness – includes controls strategy
• Universality – how readily the design applies to other applications
• Sustainability – includes ease of maintenance, use of recycled materials in product/packaging or materials that are recyclable, and other environmental measures
Special credit points can be awarded at the discretion of the judges for extra project challenge and project impact – e.g., budget, timing, location challenges/limitations, and social benefit (i.e. community impact, pro bono projects, historic preservation).
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