The Awards

Headline Sponsor: Raymarine

Raymarine has been the headline sponsor of the Boat Builder Awards ever since the very first edition in 2015. Raymarine a world leader in marine electronics, develops and manufactures the most comprehensive range of electronic equipment for the recreational, boating and light commercial marine markets.

See all sponsors 

THE AWARDS

  • Community Support Initiative

    for boat builder and shipyard companies

    This award is for a boatbuilder and its employees who showed great social awareness by channelling resources, expertise or manufacturing capabilities to aid wider community COVID-19 crisis support.

  • Environmental Initiative

    for boat builders and shipyards companies

    Boat builders nominated for this award will highlight any change that targets sustainability. Examples include reducing the environmental impact of production processes or of boats and yachts, recycling initiatives and support of environmental campaigns.

  • Exceptional Commercial Achievement in an Unprecedented Year

    for boat builders and shipyard companies

    This award is for boatbuilders that have implemented strategies or protocols that not only protected their business and team but also enabled them to emerge strongly from lockdown.

  • sleipner

    Lifetime Achievement Award

    for individuals working for a boat builder or shipyard

    We invite nominations to this special award for a person who has made a lifetime’s contribution as a boat builder. Nominees will have made a significant impact on the boat building businesses that they have been associated with in their careers.

  • Rising Star

    for individuals working for a boat builder or shipyard

    Individuals nominated in this category will be aged 35 or under, working for a boat builder and will have been making a growing impact on any aspect of their business, from design and production, to management, buying and any other boat building discipline. Nominees should be no older than age 35 on 10 December 2020.

Judging Panel

All nomination entries are carefully evaluated by an international panel of eight judges, chaired by Ed Slack, Editor in Chief at IBI.

  • Craig Ritchie

    North America Correspondent, IBI magazine, USA

    Craig Ritchie began writing about the leisure boating industry in the late 1980s. After three decades of magazine work, most recently as Director of Editorial at a major Canadian publishing firm, he took an early retirement package and established his own communications company. Craig joined IBI as its North America correspondent in 2012.

  • Davide Cipriani

    Boat and industrial designer, president of yacht design at Centrostiledesign, Italy

    Davide Cipriani, president of yacht design engineering at Centrostiledesign srl, developed a love for boating in his childhood. He became passionate about the design world and soon began a career path in the 27-year-old family industrial design business focused on the marine industry, working with his father, Tiziano. Davide now manages the company, taking care of its customers and its 40 employees.

  • Ed Slack

    Editor of IBI Magazine, UK

    Having worked for a group of regional newspapers in the UK, Ed joined IBI in 1999, taking on the role of editor in 2005. Following an MBO of the magazine and its affiliate websites, IBI-Plus and IBInews.com, in April 2017, he became Editorial Director of IBI parent company Boating Communications.

  • Hugo Andreae

    Editor Motor Boat and Yachting magazine, UK.

    Hugo Andreae is the editor of Motor Boat & Yachting magazine, Europe’s oldest and most respected motor boat magazine. After 15 years as a motoring journalist working on Autocar and the Daily Express, he moved from land to sea to become editor of Motor Boats Monthly magazine in 2002. Two years later he took the helm of Motor Boat & Yachting, pushing it to new heights with the launch of the Motor Boat of the Year Awards in 2006 and SuperYacht World magazine in 2007. As well as an experienced marine journalist and magazine editor he remains a passionate motor boat owner and windsurfer.

  • James Grazebrook

    Founder and former owner of Halyard, UK

    James Grazebrook OBE was President of the British Marine Federation and of the European Marine Industries Group. He built his own marine engineering business, Halyard, over 30 years before selling this in 2011. Under his ownership the company became a world leader in reducing noise for large marine diesels and a key supplier to builders of pleasure and commercial craft internationally. James retired in 2015.

  • Klaus Röder

    Yacht designer at Carpe Diem Yacht Design, Germany

    Klaus has started his career as a boat builder craftsman in southern Germany, completing his education with an education in "Yacht- and Powercraft Design" in Southampton. He is now actively both designing and surveying yachts. In his role as a consultant he serves the industry at levels of standardisation, administration and compliance.

  • Lars-Ake Redeen

    Chief Editor Batliv magazine, Sweden

    Lars-Åke Redéen is a Swedish boating journalist and editor-in-chief of Batliv Magazine since 1990. He has been working as responsible editor for both the Swedish Boating Union (consumer magazine) and Sweboat (B2B) for many years and has contributed to the IBI News since mid 90´ies. Lars-Åke studied journalism at the University of Gothenburg before starting his career as a daily newspaper journalist, later a car magazine editor and then he moved to the boating business. For several years he was chairman for the jury at the former Scandinavian Boat Show in Stockholm.

  • Michel Luizet

    Editor Neptune magazine, France

    Sailing has been his passion since he was a teenager. He graduated in History at La Sorbonne in Paris, although he was more often found on the Channel between Saint-Malo and Cowes, competing in all races like the Fasnet race. After university, Michel worked as an assistant for a member of the French parliament for four years. He started his journalism career in 1997. For the duration of one year, he worked as a freelance journalist for Voile Magazine. He then joined Moteur Boat as an editor in 1998 before becoming deputy editor in chief two years later. Since 2003 he is the editor in chief of Neptune Yachting Magazine, a leading French high end boating magazine.