Jury announces nominated products for DAME Design Award 2022
by Eva van de Pol, METSTRADE 25 Oct 2022 16:49 BST
15-17 November 2022
DAME Design Award at METSTRADE © Pieter Magielsen
METSTRADE is pleased to announce that 48 products from a total field of 104 entries spanning 14 countries have been nominated to enter the final rounds of judgement for the 31st edition of the DAME Design Award 2022.
This year marked a welcome full return of an international jury of leading design and user experts to the DAME Design Award's specially created assessment room at RAI Amsterdam. Following detailed pre-visit scrutiny of submitted entry information, the eight members of the Jury, chaired by renowned yacht designer Andre Hoek, gathered to spend two very intensive hands-on days looking at products in detail. The nominations for final assessment were agreed after much discussion.
It is from this list of 48 nominations (see below) that the winners from seven categories and the ultimate accolade of 31st anniversary DAME Design Award winner will emerge. The Jury will also name its first discretionary Environmental Design Award winner.
All nominees and winners will be celebrated at the METSTRADE 2022 Breakfast Briefing in the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre on 15 November, featuring a keynote speech by electric aircraft visionary, Cory Combs.
All DAME nominated products will feature on a special display at METSTRADE located at the heart of the show in the Elicium (Hall 13). Alongside, the METSTRADE Theatre will host daily discussion panels from this year's DAME Design Award's category and outright winners.
Driving design improvement despite other pressures
Andre Hoek, chair of the DAME Jury, says: "It is well known that the marine leisure equipment sector has been under severe pressure for the past two years. It has needed to satisfy a strong surge in market demand while dealing with significant supply chain challenges. Ordinarily, you might expect this to completely pull the focus away from R&D. Impressively though, many of this year's very wide field of entries showed evidence of ongoing investment in better design, which is vital for longer-term future of the whole industry. The DAME Design Award has a long history of setting the bar high and it is not easy to satisfy all the design criteria we consider - including function, form, environment, innovation, and price to performance. The nominees listed here are to be congratulated on meeting the scrutiny of our jury members and I look forward to finalising the results and announcing the best of the best at the Breakfast Briefing."
METSTRADE director Niels Klarenbeek adds: "For more than three decades the DAME Design Award has been very much a part of the METSTRADE DNA. It encourages design improvement leading to excellence in the experience of water sports enthusiasts, greater efficiency for manufacturing operation and improvement in environmental impact. The DAME Design Award is a significant high-water mark for many equipment manufacturers and suppliers around the world. We look forward to celebrating once again the significant design successes of our industry at METSTRADE."
The DAME Design Award nominated products 2022 can be viewed at www.metstrade.com/awards/nominees
The DAME Jury 2022 can be viewed at www.metstrade.com/awards/dame-jury