OutDoor Industry Award 2011 Announced
During this year’s OutDoor Show which will be held July 14-17, 2011, Messe Friedrichshafen will proudly present the OutDoor Industry Awards for the sixth time. These are the most prestigious awards honoring quality in the industry.
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The winner of the 2011 OutDoor Industry Award will be announced during the OutDoor Show from July 14-17. Judging was held in Hannover on June 28 and 29 and 45 award-winners were named – 11 of whom were presented with the Gold Award for special design and innovation achievements. A total of 301 products from 23 different countries from around the world took part in the innovative award competition conceived and organized by iF International Forum Design GmbH in Hannover. Last year there were 328 entries from 28 countries.
Manufacturers, developers and designers were called upon to submit their new product developments focusing on the topic of the outdoors in eight different categories: Apparel/helmets/shoes, backpacks/travel luggage, mountain-climbing equipment, camping equipment, sleeping bags, accessories, products of high ecological and sustainable value and material innovations. In addition to the evaluation criterion of design quality, the judges also took into account such other aspects as degree of innovation, workmanship, choice of materials, environmental compatibility, sustainability, functionality, utility, safety, trendsetting character and brand value/branding.
This year, the jury of experts included: Dr. Bene Benedikt, ALPIN – Das BergMagazin, Gauting, Germany; Mark Held, European Outdoor Group, Zug, Switzerland; Eva Paster, Neuland Paster & Geldmacher, Munich, Germany; Giovanni Quirici, Bergsteiger, Carouge, Geneva, Switzerland; Tjeerd Visser, Op Pad Magazine, Den Haag, Netherlands; Frank Wacker, outdoor editorial office, Stuttgart, Germany; and Bernd Woick, Bernd Woick GmbH, Filderstadt, Bernhausen, Germany.
Stefan Reisinger, OutDoor project head and member of the Messe Friedrichshafen board of directors, said, “The outdoor industry stands for a special kind of awareness of life, for a completely different social outlook – and, perhaps most importantly, for the spirit of innovation. And that is exactly what became very clear once again during this year’s OutDoor Industry Award – many market leaders entered their new products in the award to make them stand out from the competition. After all, winning such an award is an official endorsement of a product’s creativity, innovation and quality.”
OutDoor Celebrity of the Year 2011
Leading trade journalists and representatives of the industry have once again selected the “OutDoor Celebrity of the Year 2011” – a personality who has made a particularly important contribution to the outdoor industry. This year’s award winner will be announced and honored during the Awards Ceremony on the fashion-show stage in Hall A2 on the first day of the OutDoor Show.
