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  SIMA Image Awards will no longer be held in Mexico

Press Release:

SIMA IMAGE AWARDS CEREMONY SAYS ADIOS TO CABO, MOVES STATESIDE

 — Next SIMA Image Awards Ceremony to Be Held in Early 2011 in Southern California —

ALISO VIEJO, Calif. (March 10, 2010) — The Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) is pleased to announce that the next SIMA Image Awards ceremony will be held in southern California in early 2011.

For the past seven years, the annual awards ceremony has been held on the final night of Surf Summit each May in Cabo San Lucas. While the SIMA Image Awards ceremony stood as a highly anticipated component of the surf industry conference, the audience has been limited because the event was held out of the country. The goal of the decision made by the SIMA Board of Directors to bring the ceremony stateside is to allow more of the surf industry to participate in the culmination of this peer recognition program.

“The SIMA Image Awards have grown to be a very influential and important program to our industry,” said Doug Palladini, President of SIMA and Vice President of Marketing for Vans. “There are so many people involved with the products and brands nominated for SIMA Image Awards each year – from designers to sales reps, to marketing coordinators and retail shop staff – and not all of these people can be in Cabo at Surf Summit for the final awards ceremony. The SIMA Board of Directors feels it is important to bring the Image Awards ceremony to a more accessible location in an effort to include more people from more of our member brands and retail partners, and have them join in the celebration of seeing the products they’ve worked countless hours on be honored in front of their peers and the media.”

Moving the ceremony to early 2011 will also allow for the SIMA Image Awards to be awarded in a more timely fashion. Instead of waiting until Surf Summit in May to learn the winners of awards based on a calendar year, the awards for success at market during 2010 will be given just a few months after the close of the year, in January or February 2011.

Entries for the next round of SIMA Image Awards will be open to all paid SIMA members this fall. The awards will be for products at market from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010. Start thinking now of which of the 15 award categories your brand or products will be eligible for: Breakthrough Brand of the Year; Breakthrough Retailer of the Year; Accessory Product of the Year; Footwear Product of the Year; Environmental Product of the Year; Surfboard Model of the Year; Wetsuit of the Year; Men’s Marketing Campaign of the Year; Men’s Boardshort of the Year; Men’s Apparel Brand of the Year; Men’s Retailer of the Year; Women’s Marketing Campaign of the Year; Women’s Swim Brand of the Year; Women’s Apparel Brand of the Year; and Women’s Retailer of the Year.

Stay tuned for more information and details in the coming months, or visit www.sima.com

The Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) is the official working trade association of more than 300 surf industry suppliers. Founded in 1989, SIMA is a non-profit organization that serves to promote awareness of the surf industry and participation in the sport of surfing through public relations efforts and a variety of services, educational programs and research. In addition, SIMA actively supports oceanic environmental efforts through its 501(c)(3) charitable environmental foundation, the SIMA Environmental Fund. In the past 20 years, SIMA’s Environmental Fund has raised more than $5 million for environmental groups seeking to protect the world’s oceans, beaches and waves. The SIMA Humanitarian Fund, also a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation, was established in 2006 to award grants to various surf or boardsport related social and humanitarian non-profit organizations whose efforts are focused on improving the quality of life, health and/or welfare of people.