Boat Builder Awards 2024 to Connect Maritime Heritage with Modern Day

IBI and METSTRADE are pleased to announce that the Boat Builder Awards will mark its successful first decade by strongly connecting this year’s theme with the centuries of maritime endeavour preserved within the historic walls of Amsterdam’s National Maritime Museum.

The National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam holds one of the largest and most notable maritime collections anywhere in the world, including paintings, ship models, navigation instruments and sea charts. These exhibits connect 500 years of Dutch maritime history with our society and enterprise today.

After sunset, the museum takes on a particularly atmospheric feel where one can sense the creativity and efforts of countless craftspeople, designers, shipwrights, and seafarers who laid the foundation of our knowledge and trade right up to the 21st Century. Guests from around the globe will experience this for themselves on a very special night out in Amsterdam on Wednesday 20 November when 350 industry leaders gather under the starlit roof of the museum’s courtyard to applaud the winners of the 2024 IBI METSTRADE Boat Builder Awards, in association with Raymarine.

METSTRADE Exhibition Manager and project manager for this year’s event, Patricia Becker, explains: “The Amsterdam Maritime Museum has been our home since the Boat Builder Awards was first launched, 10 years ago. As organisers we’ve always appreciated the dramatic setting of the building and its courtyard. It was designed to impress when built and continues to do so today. However, this year we have set out to mark our anniversary by strongly connecting the great achievements of the recreational boat building sector in 2024 with the museum’s carefully curated evidence of our predecessors.

“The setting and entertainment of our special evening this year will take everyone on a journey through the annals of Dutch maritime endeavours, from the 16th Century’s Golden Age right up to the current day. As we look back, we’ll also be reminded of the three key pillars that lie at the heart of our future industry success – innovation, the environment, and people.”

The Boat Builder Awards are free to enter and you can nominate yourself or nominate companies or individuals who you think deserve recognition. Nominations are via a simple to use online form between now and 27 September 2024. Further information and how to nominate here.

2024 Boat Builder Awards Categories:

Breakthrough Launch of the Year - sponsored by HP Watermakers
Innovative Design Solution – sponsored by Fusion
Collaborative Solution between a Builder and its Supply Chain Collaboration
Retail Marketing Initiative
Sustainability Project of the Year – sponsored by ePropulsion
Eco-focused Boat of the Year – under 10m loa
Eco-focused Boat of the Year – over 10m loa
Designer of the Year
People and Skills Development
Rising Star – sponsored by Lumishore
Lifetime Achievement Award – sponsored by Sleipner

The 2024 Boat Builder Awards will be presented on Wednesday 20 November and tickets can be purchased here.