(RNS) Every year, the journal Faith and Form sponsors an International Awards Program for Religious Art & Architecture.

According to Editor-in-Chief Michael J. Crosbie, this year’s 28 winning projects “represent a wide range of work and the variety of responses to the continuously evolving ideas about how to create sacred environments, for every family of belief in the world.”

Nearly half of the projects were designed or created for sites outside of North America, and many employed creative uses of natural light, “making it part of the religious environment.

“While natural light has long been a way of conveying a sense of immanence in religious art and architecture, the jury noted that it also contributes to sustainability and helps to reduce energy costs,” Crosbie said in a statement. 

He also noted that designers used natural materials and “simple, elegant materials to meet the needs of congregations.”

Take a visual tour of the contest’s winning spaces above.

Photographs courtesy of Faith and Form