The year 2021 has been has been another notable year year in temple building history in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. President Nelson announced a record 34 temples between April and October of 2021, vaulting him up to the position of having announced more temples than any other person.
There will be 12 temple groundbreaking ceremonies by the end of the year, a notable achievement, but still short of the 21 groundbreakings in 2020. After a dearth of temple dedications in 2020, there have been two temple dedications in 2021, and there will be a rededication before the year is out. Other dedications have been delayed until 2022.
This year, temples have opened up to Phase 3 operations. After stressing the importance of wearing facemasks in temples, nearly all temples have reached this phase.
Similar to the year 2020, a plethora of new temple designs have been released by the church. In 2021, the Church has released another 25 new temple designs. Now it’s time to choose the best of the bunch, and your vote is crucial in the process!
Each category includes an option to submit multiple preferences.
The Awards include:
- Best Appeal to Local Heritage
- Best Modern Neo-Classical Contemporary Design
- Modest Is Hottest
- Most Deserved Temple
- Best in the United States
- Best in Latin America
- Best in the Eastern Hemisphere
- Best Single-Story Temple
- Best Multi-Story Temple
- Temple of the Year (Best Overall)
“Best” in this case refers primarily to architectural components and temple location. We recognize that no temple is actually better than another for what it is –The House of the Lord. But we can still rank the appearance of each one! Check out the results from 2020.
Please note that the Provo Utah Temple option is that of the upcoming reconstruction and redesign.
The results of the voting will be announced near the beginning of the new year.
The quiz is also embedded below if you cannot click the button above. Happy Voting!
If you are interested reading more about our coverage of Latter-day Saint Temples, check out these articles that highlight new and continuous developments in temple construction and operation from 2021:
- Building temples using a pre-fabricated modular design
- No temples designed in 2021 have an Angel Moroni statue
- A few new temples will have two baptistries
- The continuation the trend of building second temples in large cities
- More existing chapels have been demolished to make room for temples
- All temple cafeterias will close in 2022
- Temple recommends will now have digital signatures
- Lima Peru Temple had a cross projected on its walls
- Latter-day Saint Temple is Russia (briefly) gets a new name on the church website
- The North Temple Visitors center on Temple Square will be demolished
- Endowment ceremonies presented in the “live” format have been discontinued and the murals in the Salt Lake Temple have been removed
- The Manti Utah Temple’s murals and progressive endowment presentation will be preserved after the church withdrew their plans to remove them
- A temple was announced in Ephraim, Utah, the first temple announced outside of general conference by President Nelson
- The Provo Utah Temple will be reconstructed
If you are interested in where additional temples may be built in the coming years, check out this data driven approach to temple predictions. Also, review the April and October temples predictions pages for more commentary.
