When it came time to decide the winners for this year, we again turned to the blueprint originally devised in 2012. With only minor tweaks and improvements, the judging criteria have remained largely unchanged. All awards are based on the vessels we review during the year, and the equipment supplied to them.
For the best marine equipment suppliers and manufacturers, market success and sales remains the chief guiding principle. It continues to be our belief that quality of product and degree of service and after sales support are all intrinsically tied to market share and sales. After all – in this industry, one does not gain dominance through mediocrity. Where a category does not have a large amount of data, we look at what we do have, plus word-of-mouth recommendations from the hundreds of designers, builders and owners we speak to each year.
For the builders, we again utilised the same slightly subjective mixture of innovation, styling, finish and build quality first implemented in 2012. Other benchmarks considered include feedback from the client and overall market trends and evolutions – is the vessel or product a daring new proof-of-concept, or a classic refinement of a well-established category, for example?
Anyway – just as they did in past years, our awards pay tribute to the builders, designers and equipment suppliers that together have worked hard to get industry to where it is today. Without their collective dedication and commitment, our industry would not be enjoying such bright prospects in the near future.