On 23 September 2026, shortly before the Mid-Autumn public holiday (25-27 September), every member of the ANOVA Lighting team came together at the company's Foshan campus. The occasion was the company's Mid-Autumn celebration: a full afternoon of garden games, followed by dinner, a gala and a six-round lucky draw. An internal event committee had shaped the day from start to finish, and the evening closed a little after 21:00 with a whole-company photo and a champion's trophy.

ANOVA Lighting works as a one-stop architectural lighting partner, and most weekdays are built around product development, engineering and buyer support. For one afternoon, the people who normally plan fixtures and write technical guides traded spreadsheets for scorecards — and the campus became a festival ground. The same team publishes technical guides and product updates for buyers week in, week out.

Seven Teams, One Scoreboard

The afternoon's competition gathered the whole company into seven teams, each named after a figure from Chinese mythology or classic literature. Team Nezha, Team White Dragon and Team Journey to the West were among them. Every team chased the same goal: top honors, decided by cumulative points across the four garden games, the evening performances and the quality of hosting. In a format like that, every round mattered — and so did every supporting role.

Four Games in the Garden

The games began with a classic ring toss, then moved to the bottle-standing challenge — a head-to-head contest played over three cumulative rounds, where a steady hand counted as much as a quick one.

The highlight for many was lantern-making. Each team had just 15 minutes to design and build one Mid-Autumn-themed lantern, followed by 15 minutes to present it and face the judges. There was something fitting about colleagues at a lighting company building lanterns by hand — the same instinct behind our sustainable, recycled-material lighting philosophy.

The last station tested wits rather than aim: lantern riddles. Each team drew 20 prepared riddles and wrote 10 of its own, and the cards were hung beneath each team's lantern for rival teams to solve. One rule kept the contest honest: looking up answers on smart devices was strictly off-limits, and order monitors made sure it stayed that way.

Run by Our Own People

What made the day feel different was who was running it. Every station was staffed by volunteers from across the company: game officers kept the rules, timekeepers kept the clock, scorekeepers kept the tally, and order monitors kept the flow. Emcees carried the programme with warmth and humor, and transition guides moved seven teams between stations on schedule. Behind the scenes, an admin team handled materials, prizes and catering, while a photographer documented the day from the first toast to the final pose. Nobody was brought in from outside — the whole festival simply belonged to the people attending it.

Dinner, a Gala and an Employee Birthday

As evening settled over the campus, everyone moved to the main hall for a catered group dinner, where team leads stood to raise toasts. The gala that followed opened with a choral performance of the company's own anthem, then turned playful with a comedy talk-show act about the origins of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Four more song and dance acts followed, each one scored by the evening's judges. Mid-programme, the room paused for a birthday celebration for one of its own team members, marked with a birthday gift from the company's founder — a quiet, heartfelt moment in the middle of a loud and happy night. Then came the six-round lucky draw, with anticipation building round after round.

The Final Scores

When the points were totaled, champion, runner-up and third place were decided by cumulative points across the four games, the performances and the hosting. Before the evening closed a little after 21:00, the whole company gathered for a group photo: seven teams, one company, one frame.

The Teamwork Behind the Festival

A festival run entirely by volunteers only works when roles are clear and handovers are clean — one station hands off to the next, and nothing falls between. That is also how ANOVA runs its lighting projects: one coordinated team, defined responsibilities and a smooth handover from concept to delivery, backed by serious engineering and ODM development. Seven teams competed for one title on 23 September. What they showed is something the company practices every day: when everyone owns a role, the whole thing works.