DAME call for entries
The prestigious DAME (Design Awards at METSTRADE) is now accepting entries for this year.
12 July 2024
Advertisement
The DAME Design Awards is now open for nominations, with the entry deadline set as 16 September 2024.
The DAME (Design Awards at METSTRADE) was launched in 1991 to promote design across all disciplines and recognise the best-designed products at the METSTRADE show, held each year in Amsterdam.
In the years since, hundreds of pioneering companies in the marine equipment sector, from micro businesses to large groups, have recognised and promoted their design achievements across the industry and its customers.
A panel of jury members assesses each entry’s total design, including aesthetics, functionality, efficiency, environment and innovation. The awards highlight the efforts of manufacturers who bring new design concepts to market and recognise incremental design improvement of equipment that has been in use for years or decades.
Advertisement
This year, entrants are directly contributing to providing better watersports holidays and experiences for people with disabilities through the Dutch charity SailWise.
METSTRADE exhibitors are encouraged to submit entries online until 16 September 2024. A month-long virtual and physical assessment process will follow, led by the jury, comprising boat, interior and industrial designers and user experts.
In a final two-day product inspection meeting at RAI Amsterdam, the jury selects a nominated shortlist of entries before identifying the best product in each category. An eventual DAME Design Awards overall winner is chosen from this list.
All DAME-nominated products are given a high-profile presence in METSTRADE’s Hall 13. In the past 10 years, more than 500 products have been nominated and showcased in this way.
Category winners and the overall winner of the DAME Design Awards are announced at the METSTRADE ICOMIA Breakfast Briefing in front of leading industry players on the show’s first day. The DAME Jury also awards a series of special mentions and a discretionary Environmental Design Winner.
The DAME Design Awards categories were revised in 2023 to bring them in line with the latest industry trends.
This year’s categories are: Personal equipment; comfort & entertainment afloat; navigation & communication; electronic & electrical systems; propulsion & dynamics; deck equipment; security & safety aboard; shoreside equipment & materials.
The jury will also name a product from among the field of DAME Design Award nominations as an Environmental Design Award winner if it finds a product with “clear and obvious” merit.
DAME 2024 chosen charity
Each year, all DAME entrants pay a fee to submit their products, which is donated directly to a charitable cause chosen by the METSTRADE Exhibition Committee from a list of applications.
METSTRADE has chosen SailWise as the DAME Award charity for 2024. This Dutch organisation provides active multi-day water sports activities for those with disabilities. Each year, more than 1,500 people aged between 10-90 participate at Robinson Crusoe Island, its watersports centre in the Loosdrechtse Plassen, located south of Amsterdam, and on its specially adapted two-masted clipper.
Lisette Koopmans has a disease that affects her muscles and is a regular visitor to Robinson Crusoe Island: “When I am sailing, I leave my disability on the jetty. That’s how free I feel in an adapted sailing boat from SailWise,” she says.
The 2024 DAME Design Awards proceeds will be applied directly to providing a completely new, low-maintenance, and long-term sustainable jetty and terrace on the wheelchair-accessible Robinson Crusoe Island in time for the April-November 2025 season.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
CLB65: Where Luxury Meets Comfort
