10th anniversary Boat Builder Awards to connect maritime heritage with today’s golden age of development

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. Around 350 industry leaders will gather under the atmospheric starlit roof of the museum’s courtyard to applaud well-deserved 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 best dinner date in Amsterdam

Wednesday 20 November is the date to save for the 2024 Boat Builder Awards for Business Achievement. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased as a Table Partner of 10 or Half Table Partner of five with additional benefits, or individually. Visit www.ibinews.com/bba2024/tickets to ensure your reservation for a night to remember.

Nominations now open

Awards will be presented in 11 categories with three industry priority themes – on innovation, environment, and people.

The Boat Builder Awards is free to enter. You can nominate on your behalf or send in entries for companies or people who you think deserve recognition. Nominations are via a simple to use online form and open now until 27 September 2024. To ensure judges have maximum time to evaluate entries, businesses are encouraged to submit their nominations as soon as possible. 

Full details of the 11 award categories and how to nominate are available at www.ibinews.com/bba2024.  

The 2024 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