2024 DAME Design Awards opens for entries and announces chosen charity

DAME AWARDS 2023 Overall winner © Metstrade

The closely contested DAME Design Awards at METSTRADE for leisure marine equipment is now open for nominations with entrants directly contributing to providing better watersports holidays and experiences for people with disabilities through Dutch charity SailWise.

Across its 33 editions the DAME has achieved unrivalled recognition in the global marine equipment sector for encouraging excellent end-to-end design practices that make boating more accessible, pleasurable, and sustainable for the industry's customers. Its roll call of winners and nominees include many products from small businesses to large companies that have influenced the development of the whole marine equipment sector.

A panel of highly experienced Jury members assesses the total design of each entry in all design aspects including aesthetics, functionality, efficiency, environment, and innovation. The awards highlight the efforts of manufacturers who bringing completely new design concepts to market and equally recognises incremental design improvement of equipment that have been in use for years or decades.

Entries open

METSTRADE exhibitors are encouraged to submit entries online from now until the 16 September deadline. A month-long process of virtual and physical assessment will follow, led by a highly experienced Jury comprising leading 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 best of the best list.

Read more about the Awards and learn how to enter here

Recognition at the heart of METSTRADE

All DAME nominated products benefit from high-profile presence on a brilliantly curated showcase within the heart of METSTRADE in Hall 13. This feature is visited and talked about by thousands of leading marine industry professionals, each year. In the past 10 years alone more than 500 products have been nominated and then showcased in this way.

Category Winners and the DAME Design Awards Overall Winner are announced at the METSTRADE ICOMIA Breakfast Briefing in front of many leading industry players on the first day of the show. The DAME Jury also awards a series of Special Mentions and a discretionary Environmental Design Winner.

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 is pleased to announce that the DAME Design Awards charity for 2024 is SailWise. This Dutch organisation provides active multi-day water sports activities for those with disabilities. Each year, more than 1500 people aged between 10-90 participate at Robinson Crusoe Island, its watersports centre in the Loosdrechtse Plassen, located to the south of Amsterdam, and on its specially adapted two-masted clipper. The charity has much specialist equipment to accommodate a wide range of disabilities including wheelchair users. Guests visit with their families and carers from all over Europe.

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!"

The 2024 DAME Design Awards proceeds will be applied directly to provision of 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. This is essential to retain safe and easy accessibility for people in wheelchairs and those with a visual impairment. DAME entrants will therefore be directly contributing to a valuable, long-term facility that will serve many European people with disabilities in years to come.