The Godfather Part II. Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Aliens.
The list of wildly successful sequels could go on. Will it include season two of the Silhouette Awards? The team, made up of co-founders Eve Gaut of Parrot PR and Marketing and Katia Kolovea of Archifos, along with Senior Marketing Manager Charlotte Jenkins, has a lot to live up to.
The birth of Silhouette Awards was a rousing success covered by designing lighting (dl) in our August 2022 issue. Season two launched September 21st, and, like any good sequel, the program is maintaining the successful structure. As Eve said, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”
This season will again pair twenty up-and-coming lighting designers with twenty established professionals for a six-month mentorship. The global emphasis remains, aimed at supporting young talent from around the world.
Many of the mentors from season one asked if they could participate again. But, in order to grow the community as much as possible, almost all mentors will be new. Those inaugural twenty will not be forgotten: Martin Klaasen will return as a mentor, providing consistency. And the incoming group will be welcomed into the WhatsApp group chat created by the first round of mentors. This platform provides them with a forum to share ideas, best practices, and connections in an effort to better support their mentees.
Some minor tweaks have been made with an even greater emphasis placed on the community aspect this time around. Plans are in place to incorporate regular (frequency still TBD) online miniseries events aimed at shining a light on an important aspect of professional development, such as negotiation skills or productivity improvement. These sessions will be open to everyone who applies, regardless if they are selected for a mentorship.
The age restriction for applying has been removed, as Eve and Katia recognized that some professionals start their careers later in life. The new program is open to anyone in his or her first eight years in the industry.
Applications for season two are now open and run through November 30. Applicants need to complete the form and submit a short biography and a 3-minute video about themselves, their mentorship goals, and another passion outside of the lighting. The mentors, who judge applications, review every submission. They are given scoring criteria to select their top twenty applicants. The mentors then select the five applicants they can help the most; these top five are then assigned pairings.
The program is partnering with the LIT Lighting Design Awards. Winners of the “Emerging Lighting Product Designer of the Year” and “Emerging Lighting
Designer of the Year” awards will join the program and receive a six-month mentorship from the Silhouette Awards mentor community. Also, the twenty Silhouette Awards winners will receive special benefits from the LIT Design Awards (more to come, stay tuned).
The list of mentors for this season reads as a Who’s Who of the lighting industry and is reason enough to apply. Best of luck to all participants this season!