Aglow With Winners: Inside The 20th Best Of Year Awards Ceremony

Interior Design‘s prestigious Best of Year Awards, showcasing the year’s most impressive projects, products, and student work, turned 20 with a celebration fit for the occasion on December 11, 2025. Hosted once again in BlackRock’s Hudson Yards headquarters in Manhattan, more than 800 well-heeled designers and creatives made their way into the firm’s expansive theater—a previous Best of Year winner—to honor the evening’s luminaries. “This is our 20th Best of Year Awards,” Interior Design Editor-in-Chief Cindy Allen said as she took the stage to the sound of roaring applause. “And we have a surprise for you.”

Allen didn’t just have one surprise in store—she had two. First, the evening’s program included a special Best in 20 category for standout products and projects from the last 20 years, which continue to awe and inspire. Second, the 2025 awards, designed by 3form as a sculptural take on the program’s signature lightbulb, lit up—in an array of colors. “Isn’t that fun?” Allen said as the trophies emitted a soft glow. “The light bulb lights up for our 20th year.”

The awards ceremony, which followed Interior Design‘s 41st Hall of Fame gala the night before at the Waldorf Astoria, showcased the most innovative and intentional designs among nearly 2,000 total submissions. Kicking off the festivities, Allen announced standout Product winners and honorees as DJ Tony Flow energized the crowd with rhythmic beats (though there was no shortage of enthusiasm.) Attendees cheered loudly for friends and colleagues as Allen described each striking design, from phono-absorbing sculptures to a lighting collection made from handblown Murano glass and a discreet, yet stylish, dog bed. As for Best in 20 winners, nearly 20 products earned the title, including Heller’s Fortune chair and Estiluz’s Volta pendant light.

Interior Design‘s Best of Year Awards Celebrate the Best of the Best

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Want to know who earned top honors in each category? See Interior Design‘s Best of Year Awards winner’s gallery.

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Per tradition, industry creatives also had a say in selecting a standout Product winner. Jessica Gersten Design took home this year’s People’s Choice Award for the Alma Pendant, Ropeira Collection, made of artfully draped macrame rope.

Then the spotlight turned to student work, with three winners in the category. Riddhima Bansal, from Parsons School of Design, created a standing lamp with woven fibers; Bryce Moon, from Savannah College of Art and Design, designed a series of colorful, connected benches and planters; and Franciszek Wesolowki, from SWPS University, envisioned multi-use, solution-driven furnishes.

The end of the evening’s Product segment marked the start of the cocktail reception, enabling attendees to connect with friends and colleagues before returning to the theater for the Best of Year Awards Project winners. With almost 1,200 project submissions from 41 countries, the striking locales by winners and honorees offered a welcome escape from the chill outside. From a premium dental clinic that looks like an art gallery, complete with on-site installations, to a floating net-zero resort, 2025 Best of Year Award winners continue to stretch the imagination.

Two recent Hall of Fame inductees also took home a Best of Year Award. Pierre-Yves Rochon, a 2025 Hall of Famer, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill won for Hotel Transformation of the Waldorf Astoria New York and Héctor Esrawe, also a newly minted inductee, and Cadena + Asociados Concept Design won for Small Retail for Xinú Haven. As for Best in 20 projects, the expansive list does not disappoint. Think: TWA Hotel.

As the last group of winners collected their awards on stage, taking a moment to wave the glowing statues in the air, the ceremony came to a close. Allen offered a short and sweet congratulations to all winners and honorees and, for one more moment, the room filled with a resounding round of applause.

Event Snaps from Interior Design’s Best of Year Awards 

 

 

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A very special thank you to our Best of Year Awards partners, who played an integral role in creating the evening’s festivities. Gold partners: Shaw Contract and 3form, which designed the awards, and Platinum partners: Bentley Mills, Kohler, Garden on the Wall, IKEA, Material Bank, which offset the carbon footprint of the event, B+N Industries, and Accurate Lock + Hardware.