Macao’s Leong Son U has secured an award for lighting design at the prestigious World Stage Design 2025 exhibition in Sharjah. The achievement marks the first time a designer from Macao has been honoured at the international competition, according to the Cultural Affairs Bureau.
Leong won the Silver Award in the Professional Category for his work on the production Nine Voices for the Macau Experimental Theatre.
His design was selected from over 700 global entries under an anonymous judging system, ultimately standing out amongst a hundred shortlisted works.
[See more: Meet Lawrence Lei I Leong: Winner of Macao’s first Cao Yu Prize]
A graduate of the Macao Conservatory School of Theatre, Leong now works full-time as a theatre lighting designer and is furthering his studies in directing. His achievement is seen as a significant milestone for Macao’s growing cultural and creative industries, demonstrating the success of local talent cultivation efforts on the international stage.
The World Stage Design exhibition, held once every four years, is a “designer-based exhibition” that showcases and celebrates “performance design from individual designers.”
The 2025 edition, co-produced by the Sharjah Performing Arts Academy and International Organisation of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians, was the first to be hosted in the Middle East.
