The Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of the Year award has, for the past 24 years, been bestowed upon its recipient at a suitably glittering party. Last year, it took place at the British Embassy in Washington, DC; the judging panel included Sebastian Coe and America’s most distinguished designers clinked glasses with the British ambassador.

This year, things have been a little more low-key. The winner, Ben Wu, who is based in Shanghai, was informed of his victory late last month by telephone and hasn’t yet received his statuette — an elegant bronze wave by the master craftsman Hugo Villiers.

“I’m still hoping the world will get over this latest disaster,” says Martin Waller, who founded the Andrew Martin interior-design company in 1978. “And we’ll be able to have a ceremony somewhere.”