Light Reading's flagship awards program has more categories and more chances to celebrate – online and in person. We're accepting entries beginning May 3.

Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief

April 29, 2021

6 Min Read
The Leading Lights returns in 2021

Light Reading's Leading Lights awards are back in 2021.

The Leading Lights is Light Reading's awards program recognizing the industry's top companies and their executives for outstanding achievements in next-generation communications technology, applications, services, strategies and innovation.

Each year we change things up just a little bit to reflect the industry's evolution and, of course, we're taking precautions that are appropriate for being in the second year of a global pandemic. For 2021, we're modifying the awards program's format, adding new categories, simplifying the entry process and giving you more opportunities to celebrate your company's hard work in the process.

We've updated our awards categories, expanded the list and included several awards for exceptional use cases, giving service providers and vendors a chance to tout their technologies, strategies and services in action in the real world.

To enter the Leading Lights awards competition, please visit http://awards.lightreading.com on Monday, May 3, 2021. The site won't be fully operational until that date, but, in the meantime, start planning your entries and think about what categories are suitable for your company and colleagues.

The Leading Lights Shortlist will be announced at The Big 5G Event in Denver during the week of August 30, 2021. The Leading Lights Winners will be announced via an online video on October 1, 2021. A Leading Lights after-party, to celebrate the contest's finalists and winners, will be held during the week of October 26, 2021, to coincide with our editorial staff's tradition of attending and covering Mobile World Congress Los Angeles.

If any of the above changes, we'll blog about it and update our Leading Lights awards page.

Figure 1:

Awards categories

Here's our list of the 26 Leading Lights categories for 2021, including our description of the Light Reading Hall of Fame. There's no charge for your entries and suggestions for the Light Reading Hall of Fame. If you don't want to link away, don't worry: we've listed the categories on the second page of this post. Good luck!

Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

The 2021 Leading Lights categories

Figure 3:

Best Deal Maker

Awarded to the company that has consistently demonstrated good timing, judgment and execution in high-profile acquisitions, partnerships, joint ventures and other multi-company financial or strategic arrangements.

Best New 5G Core Product

Awarded to the vendor that has launched the most innovative 5G core product during the past year.

Best New Cable Tech Product or Service

Awarded to the vendor or network operator that has launched the most innovative cable technology product or cable-powered service during the past year.

Best New Cloud Product or Service (Network Operator)

Awarded to the network operator (telco, cloud, cable, etc.) that has launched the most innovative cloud-native product or service during the past year.

Best New Open RAN Product

Awarded to the vendor that has launched the most innovative open RAN product during the past year.

Best New Optical Networking/IP Product

Awarded to the company that has launched the most innovative optical networking or IP product during the past year.

Best New Video/Media Product or Service

Awarded to the company that has launched the most innovative streaming video or other media product or service during the past year.

Company of the Year (Private)

Awarded to the privately held firm that stands out from its competitors, innovates constantly, makes investors proud and makes employees happy.

Company of the Year (Public)

Awarded to the publicly listed firm that stands out from its competitors, innovates constantly, makes investors proud and makes employees happy.

Most Innovative 4G/5G Business Service

Awarded to the company that has launched a leading, innovative service delivered on 4G or 5G networks for business customers during the past year.

Most Innovative 4G/5G Consumer Service

Awarded to the company that has launched a leading, innovative service delivered on 4G or 5G networks for consumers during the past year.

Most Innovative Hybrid Networking Strategy

Awarded to the company that has outlined and clearly communicated an innovative, market-leading hybrid networking technology strategy during the past year.

Most Innovative SD-WAN Product/Service Evolution

Awarded to the company that has outlined and clearly communicated how its SD-WAN product or service has improved and kept changing in the past year to help deliver a superior SD-WAN experience to its customers.

Most Innovative Service Provider Cloud Strategy

Awarded to the network operator or service provider that has outlined and clearly communicated an innovative, market-leading cloud strategy during the past year.

Outstanding Digital Enablement Vendor

Awarded to the next-generation OSS/BSS/CX, analytics or digital commerce systems vendor that stands out from its competitors, innovates constantly, helps set the industry trends, makes investors proud and makes employees happy.

Outstanding Optical/IP Networking Components Vendor

Awarded to the components vendor that stands out from its competitors, innovates constantly, helps set the industry trends, makes investors proud and makes employees happy.

Outstanding Test & Measurement Vendor

Awarded to the communications networking test and measurement, monitoring or assurance systems vendor that stands out from its competitors, innovates constantly, helps set the industry trends, makes investors proud and makes employees happy.

Outstanding Use Case: Cable Business Services

Awarded to the cable MSO that delivered a compelling enterprise or SMB product or service to a customer, helping improve their business.

Outstanding Use Case: Customer Experience

Awarded to the company that used its communications technology or network to deliver a superior customer experience, bringing value to individuals or communities in the past year.

Outstanding Use Case: Edge Computing

Awarded to the company that can articulate a compelling example of how it delivered edge computing solutions – either network or customer-facing – that helped make a difference in a customer's business during the past year.

Outstanding Use Case: Private Wireless Networks

Awarded to the company that can share the most compelling example of building and/or operating a private wireless network on behalf of a corporate or municipal customer during the past year.

Outstanding Use Case: Service Provider AI/Automation

Awarded to the company that uses automation and/or artificial intelligence in an innovative way to improve network performance, customer service or business operations.

Outstanding Use Case: Service Provider IoT

Awarded to the service provider or other company helping customers change their business with innovative Internet of Things devices and services.

Outstanding Use Case: Service Provider Security (can include SD-WAN)

Awarded to the network operator, cloud provider or other service providers that can articulate a compelling example where they helped provide exceptional security products or services to a customer during the past year.

Person of the Year

Awarded to the communications industry individual, at any corporate level, who made an unmistakably big difference in your company's performance, character, community or culture in the last 12 months.

Hall of Fame

Every year, Light Reading recognizes those individuals, both the famous and the infamous, who have made a notable contribution to the global communications sector. Among those inducted in previous years are Steve Jobs, Bob Metcalfe, John Chambers, Kris Rinne, Irwin Jacobs, Larissa Herda, Hedy Lamarr, John Legere, Lightworks Lou and many more.

For more information, please visit http://awards.lightreading.com.

About the Author(s)

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

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