METSTRADE announces 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. Nominations range from Structural Composites Inc. and Guardtex’s LamLight, the world's first illuminating composite that allows its incorporation without the need of a change in the manufacturing process, to WIP’s X-Over Eco Cork helmet made of 100% recycled PET for water activities. 

An international jury of leading design and user experts will return this year to the DAME Design Award’s specially created assessment room at RAI Amsterdam. The eight members of the jury, chaired by renowned yacht designer Andre Hoek, gathered to spend a couple of intensive days looking at products in detail. The nominations for final assessment were agreed after much discussion. 

The DAME Design Award 2022 jury 

Winners from seven categories and the 31st anniversary DAME design award will emerge from the list of 48 nominations. 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 the 15th of November, featuring a keynote speech by electric aircraft visionary, Cory Combs. 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.

Andre Hoek, chair of the DAME Jury, speaks about the pressure that the marine leisure equipment sector has been under for the past two years. Explaining the need for the sector to satisfy the surge in market demand while dealing with significant supply chain challenges, Hoek points out: 

“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 .”

Click here to become part of The Superyacht Group community, and join us in our mission to make this industry accessible to all, and prosperous for the long-term. We are offering access to the superyacht industry’s most comprehensive and longstanding archive of business-critical information, as well as a comprehensive, real-time superyacht fleet database, for just £10 per month, because we are One Industry with One Mission. Sign up here.