The 13th annual ceremony — normally an invitation-only, black-tie affair held during SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco — was held online, streaming from the Prism Awards website. The virtual platform offered an opportunity to involve participants across the globe, while also flavoring the high-profile recognition showcase with an adventurous James Bond/Steven Spielberg/Indiana Jones accent. The 90-minute affair highlighted an exciting range of dynamic companies — from KYOCERA SLD Laser and nanoLambda, to Teledyne DALSA and Element Six — all of them applying innovative and creative solutions to critical problems in areas such as life sciences, smart sensing, transportation, quantum, and vision technology.