In a new move to permit the boating public to experience a better level of ownership the Asian Marine & Boating Awards are placing the nominees for 3 categories on the China (Shanghai) Boat Show website to permit the public to vote for their preferred nominee.

Although this does open up the door for misuse, voting patterns will be monitored to ensure that the awards are not ‘bought’ as they can sometimes be in other instances. Even the US Movie Oscars were accused of such impropriety over recent years with the most lavish party resulting in a statuette.

This move is part of the ongoing development process of keeping, not just the Awards themselves, but also Asia’s largest boat show fresh, modern and relevant in the rapidly developing Chinese boating market.

In a statement Judges Coordinator Alistair Skinner said, “We will not go as far as some awards in allowing public nominations. That only runs the risk of every builder getting friends to nominate their own boat meaning a snowfall of nominees making the judges’ task impossible. The judges we have involved know what is good, ordinary and downright terrible in the marine industry and as such we have to trust their judgment as professionals.”

The three categories that are to be posted to the Show´s website for public voting are Asian Boating Capital of the year; Asian Regatta of the Year and Asian Yacht Club of the Year.

It will be interesting to see how closely (or otherwise) the public perception of these events, cities and clubs relates to those of the panel of judges. Having said that, the nominees all have their own merits in the eyes of the judges and any one would be a worthy winner.

The votes will be correlated and the results kept under wraps, just like all the other categories, until the actual award ceremony itself held during the China (Shanghai) International Boat Show that runs from the 19th to 22nd April 2012.