Nominations announced for the 24th Design Award METS

METS DAME 2014 © METS

45 products have been nominated to go forward for final judging by the jury of the prestigious Design Award METS (DAME) 2014 competition. The products have been selected from a total of 116 entries from 23 nationalities all over the world. The Jury will eventually choose up to seven Category Winners and one Overall Winner. The DAME winners will be announced during the Breakfast Briefing on the opening day of METS 2014, taking place 18 to 20 November in the Amsterdam RAI Convention Centre.

Initiated in 1991 to recognize the best designed product at the METS exhibition, the 2014 DAME competition once again promotes the importance of design for all marine products, from function to aesthetics and from packaging to end product. The DAME Jury also considers the overall expected impact on the marine industry of entries, their suitability for intended purpose, the level of innovation, cost effectiveness and environmental impact.

Entries from all over the world

DAME 2014 received 116 entries from 23 nations all around the World. The 45 nominations represent companies from 16 different countries. The Overall Winner and Category Winners will be announced at the ICOMIA-METS Breakfast Briefing held in the Forum of Amsterdam RAI before the official opening of METS on Tuesday 18 November at 8:00 a.m.. The award presented to the Overall Winner has been designed by Naval Architect Tony Castro, former chairman of the DAME Jury, and reflects the international nature of the competition. Products that the jury considers to be exceptional, but which do not win the award in their category, may be given a special mention.

DAME Winners in new Innovation LAB

During the show winnering products will be on display in the new Innovation LAB in the Elicium building supported by iPad presentations of the products offering visitors more background information. For the first time all winning companies will present their products on the Innovation Stage.The nominated products will be displayed in the entrance of the Holland Complex (halls 9-10-11), again with virtual presentations.

Much product development despite a long period of constrained budgets

Commenting on a strong field of entries, the Chairman of the DAME Awards Jury, Bill Dixon, observed that it is commendable to once again see so much product development at a time when the marine industry has been experiencing a long period of constrained budgets: "Developing new, well designed and innovative products is very difficult for relatively low manufacturing volumes. Nevertheless many of the companies that we recognised in this year's nominations have looked at a problem, found a new and interesting way to solve it and came up with a confident solution. Others have discovered ways of making the boat builder's life easier though better integration and ease of installation."

"There's a growing challenge from consumer expectation." Bill continued. "Today's boat owners are familiar with intuitive user interfaces on smart phones and tablets. When they get on their boats and superyachts they do not want to be confused by something a lot more complicated. Simple, elegant design with cohesive integration is the future and this is the challenge that the DAME Awards will continue to address by highlighting the endeavours of the best entrants."

DAME categories

The DAME Jury carefully assesses entries for overall design, build quality, functionality and use of materials. Other factors taken into account are originality, ergonomics and price/quality ratio. The short listed products are divided into seven categories:

1. Marine electronics and related software
2. Interior equipment, furnishings, materials and electrical fittings used in cabins
3. Marina equipment, boatyard equipment and boat construction tools & materials
4. Deck equipment, sails and rigging
5. Clothing and crew accessories
6. Lifesaving and safety equipment
7. Machinery, propulsion, mechanical and electrical systems & fittings

DAME JURY 2014

This year's DAME Jury is made up of eight leading industry experts:

DAME Jury 2014 (f.l.t.r.):

• Mr. Jean François de Prémorel, Beneteau Groupe - France
• Mr. Chris Beeson, Sailing Editor of Yachting Monthly - United Kingdom
• Mr. Bill Dixon, Dixon Yacht Design (Chairman of the DAME Jury) - United Kingdom
• Mr. Torsten Conradi, Judel / Vrolijk & Co. Engineering GmbH, President DBSV - Germany
• Ing. Andrea Frabetti, Ferretti Group / Advanced Yacht Technology - Italy
• Mr. Klaus Roeder, Carpe Diem Yacht Design & member of the ICOMIA Technical Committee - Germany
• Prof. Ger Bruens, TU Delft / Associate Professor Design Aesthetics - The Netherlands
• Mr. Nigel Calder, independent Technical Marine Journalist - USA

METS DAME 2014 Jury - photo © METS

METS 2014 will be held from 18 to 20 November 2014 in Amsterdam RAI Convention Centre. For more information see www.metstrade.com. METSTRADE is also on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.