ISPO Award: Application Deadline Brought Forward To December 2018

The phase for the submission of applications for the ISPO Award 2019 will start on October 1, 2018. The process is designed to uncover the world’s most outstanding products and services in the sports industry. An independent panel of international experts will assess several hundreds of entries against strict criteria. There are some changes compared to previous years, including the fact that this year the application process will end on December 7, 2018.

ISPO will be honoring the best innovative developments in the sports industry for the eighth time with the ISPO Award 2019. The phase for the submission of applications will start on October 1. Companies from the sports industry can submit their applications for their products up until December 7. The award is open to the entire sports industry. The selection criteria are subdivided into the following categories: Innovation, Design, Function, and Sustainability. “The emphasis is on innovation. New ideas and innovative products are what drive the sports market,” says David Badalec, responsible for the ISPO Award.

ISPO Award winners benefit in a number of ways. The award serves as an external quality label for products: it helps sports retailers to keep up-to-date on the latest products each year, journalists get a concise overview of innovative developments worth reporting on and consumers see the ISPO Award as an impartial recommendation from independent experts. The world’s leading international sports business network also provides award winners with an extensive package including sales promotion and communication measures.

 “We are constantly working on further developing the concept, picking up on the latest trends and doing everything we can to execute the award process in the best possible way for the industry,” Badalec continues. The following changes apply to the ISPO Award for 2019:

• Deadline: This year applications can be submitted until December 7, 2018. As such, award winners will be able to start preparing communications earlier once they have been announced at the end of December.
• Field tests: a test weekend will also be held in addition to the regular jury meetings. During the two days, the members of the jury will test out products, which cannot otherwise be assessed in a meeting context, for example skiing-related products.

Over the course of its long history, the ISPO Award has established itself as the seal of quality for the sporting goods industry. The award is a year-round guide to products for the coming season and is aimed at retailers, journalists and end customers. At specialist retailers, for example, the seal of quality is identifiable as a label on the products and visible via point-of-sale systems. The international jury is made up of athletes, retailers, journalists, designers and consumers who chose the best sports products after in-depth discussions and a secret vote. The best innovations in each segment are named “Product of the Year” by the specialist jury. The ISPO Award is presented across a total of 80 different categories, reflecting the wide variety of products of the sporting goods industry. The award-winning products can be viewed all year round at ispo.com.