The BOAT Design & Innovation Awards celebrate the design and innovation of superyachts, highlighting features that make a boat successful and smart from an operational perspective. Below is the list of categories that will feature in the 2026 awards programme.
The categories
Outstanding Exterior Design - Motor Yachts / Sailing Yachts
Honouring the most aesthetically pleasing, operationally sound and innovative design and styling approach of a yacht's exterior. Motor yachts will focus on the balance of the profile and integration of working (including tender and helicopter stowage) and social areas, especially within the context of the yacht’s intended use. Sailing yachts will focus on the spars, especially within the context of their intended use.
Best Interior Design — Motor Yachts below 500GT / above 500GT
Honouring the most stylistically and aesthetically pleasing interior with specific attention to the general arrangement for owner and guest use, crew circulation and operation, seakeeping issues, materials, lighting, innovation, lifestyle elements and comfort within the context of the design brief.
Best Interior Design - Sailing Yachts
Honouring the most stylistically and aesthetically pleasing interiors with specific attention to the general arrangement for owner and guest use, crew circulation and operation, materials, lighting, innovation, seakeeping issues, lifestyle elements and comfort within the context of the design brief for the vessel.
Best Naval Architecture — Semi-Displacement or Planing Motor Yachts / Displacement Motor Yachts / Sailing Yachts
Honouring the best hull design for a displacement motor yacht based on a multi-point analysis of efficiency, seakeeping and performance data and looking at the demonstrated efforts made to perfect the hull for its mission during the design phase via model testing, CFD and/or other computational simulations.
Best New Series
Honouring the new best design in customisable production yachts brought to market within the eligibility period.
Eco Award
Honouring a yacht delivered within the qualifying period that demonstrates the best approach to environmentally sensitive design, engineering and operation.
Outstanding Lifestyle Feature
Honouring the design of a single lifestyle element or area on board a yacht - motor or sail – that improves the enjoyment of the yacht at sea or in harbour and enhances the quality of time on board such as through sport, connection to the natural world, creation of a specific ambience or function area and exemplifying the spirit of the owner’s brief. Please select one lifestyle feature per yacht.
Innovation of the Year
Honouring an innovative design, engineering development, product or process that has improved the aesthetics, operation or liveability of a yacht delivered within the qualifying period. Please select one product/process per yacht.
Tender of the Year
Honouring the best tender delivered into service to a specific yacht within the qualifying period. The vessel may be embarked or towed and, while it may function independently for short periods, its primary purpose is as a tender to a larger yacht, ferrying passengers or toys and equipment for owner and guest use. Tenders are evaluated for aesthetics, function within the brief, ease of boarding, passenger safety and comfort, innovation and operation - including launch and retrieval. This category may be split into Open and Limousine tenders depending on the entries.
READ THE TERMS & CONDITIONSRULES & REQUIREMENTSThe BOAT Design & Innovation Awards will return to the Superyacht Design Festival in Kitzbühel on 1-3 February 2026 with limited early-bird tickets available. Nominations for the awards are now open, with all submission materials required by 15 October 2025.
For more information, please email the events team.
SUBMIT A NOMINATIONBUY TICKETS