Marine Trades Association / Boating Business Awards

Recognising excellence in the marine industry

A number of awards were presented to companies and individuals leading the way in the marine industry at the Marine Trades Association Dinner at the Tullett Prebon London Boat Show on Tuesday evening.

The popular annual Boating Business/Marine Trades Association Awards were presented at the event held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the London Docklands.

The event, attended by 180 guests, featured an after dinner speech from former Royal Yachting Association Chief Executive Rod Carr CBE focusing on the preparations for the sailing events in the upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games.

The MTA’s Retailer of the Year award went to Pinnell and Bax and its Personality of the Year was awarded to Jolyon Martin from Raymarine, with the awards being presented by event sponsors Ocean Safety and Matchtech respectively.

MTA Chairman, Chris Murdoch, said: “This year we have yet again seen an extremely high standard of nominations, and despite the challenging climate these businesses have proved that they have got what it takes to succeed.

A special MTA Chairman’s award was presenting to the BMF’s Howard Pridding.

“As a result they have continued to thrive and it was a pleasure to reveal the winners of the seven categories of the annual Marine Industry Awards this evening,” Murdoch added.

With the accent on highlighting the new generation who will be the future of the UK leisure marine industry, two of the Boating Business awards were for people under 40 years of age at the time of presentation. The Young Entrepreneur of the Year went to Ben Metcalf of Landau UK and the Scott Deverell Young Businessperson of the Year was named as Shaun Wigley from ASAP.

Peter Nash from Boating Business also presented its Environment Award to Overwater Marina and the its Website Award went to Prime Motor Yachts.

The final award of the evening was the coveted Boating Business Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented James Grazebrook of Halyard (M&I).

Nominations for next year’s awards will open in autumn 2012. Check the MTA Newsletter for details.