Knife-of-the-Year Awards Has Some Changes

New Knife-of-the-Year Awards rules, categories and protocol announced!

Other updates include how the awards are determined, where they are presented and more

The 43rd Annual BLADE Show is proud to announce several updates to the BLADE Magazine 2024 Knife-of-the-Year® Awards, including the addition of five new awards and the termination of two old ones.

The Knife-of-the-Year Awards are, of course, for factory knives only and submitted only by eligible exhibitors at BLADE Show ’24.

The new awards for 2024 are:

• American-Made Fixed Blade of the Year
• Imported Fixed Blade of the Year
• American-Made Folding Knife of the Year®
• Imported Folding Knife of the Year®, and
• Automatic Knife of the Year® presented by PVK.com.

The new awards join the holdovers of Overall Knife of the Year®; Most Innovative American Design; Most Innovative Imported Design; Best Buy of the Year; Investor/Collector Knife of the Year®; Manufacturing Quality Award; Accessory of the Year; Knife Collaboration of the Year; Kitchen Knife of the Year®; Publisher’s Award; and Industry Achievement. (The latter two are picked from individuals in the knife industry by the staff of BLADE Magazine.)

The updates increase the overall number of awards from 13 to 16.

The old awards that have been discontinued are American Made Knife of the Year® and Imported Knife of the Year®, though in actuality they have simply been expanded to include individual awards for fixed blades and folders, both American made and imported.

Procedural Changes

There are also changes in the way certain awards are determined. Those modifications include:

• Overall Knife-of-the-Year Award: In the past, the winner of this category was determined by the leading vote getter between the American-Made and Imported Knife-of-the-Year categories, the latter two which have been discontinued in 2024. This year, whichever knife receives the highest number of votes of ALL categories is the Overall Knife of the Year.
• Best Buy of the Year Award: Unlike in the past, there will be no specific spot in the display area for entries in this category. Instead, ALL entries in ALL categories must be accompanied by the correct manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP). As a result, ALL knives in ALL knife categories accompanied by the correct MSRP are eligible and considered by the judges for the Best Buy of the Year.
• Manufacturing Quality Award: Like Best Buy of the Year, there will be no specific spot in the display area for entries in this award category as in the past. As a result, each entering exhibitor must submit a list of each knife and category he/she enters so the judges can check the lists, view/evaluate the applicable knives, and vote for the exhibitor of his/her choice for the Manufacturing Quality Award.

PVK Auto Award

Presented by PVK.com, the Automatic Knife of the Year goes to the best knife that opens automatically by the push of a button, slide, concealed release (scale, bolster, etc.) and so on. The knife can be conventional or dual action (opens as both a manual and an auto) out the side, single- or double-action (both opens and closes by the operation of a slide, button, etc.) out the front, and so on.

Award Venue Moved

Along with the BLADE Show Custom Knife Judging Awards, the Knife-of-the-Year Awards will be presented Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Garden Court area of the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel on the floor above The Pit. This is a change from last year’s award venue, which was next to The Pit in the hotel lobby.

Display Area

Entries for the BLADE Magazine 2024 Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards will be on display in the front lobby beginning show Friday. As noted, the awards are for factory knives only and submitted only by eligible exhibitors at BLADE Show ’24.

New Rules For Exhibitors

Complete copies of the new rules for the BLADE Magazine 2024 Knife-of-the-Year Awards were emailed to all eligible exhibitors in packets well before June. All eligible exhibitors are advised to go over those rules with a fine-tooth comb to ensure they do not miss out on any of the new rules and thus possibly miss out on winning one or more awards as a result.

Entry Deadlines

Entries will be accepted at the display area beginning at 9 a.m. June 7. No entries will be accepted after Noon the same day.

And may the best knives and accessory win!

More BLADE Show 2024 Info:

• BLADE SHOW 2024 PREVIEW: WHAT TO EXPECT IN ATLANTA
• DOWELL, FOGG, HARSEY JOIN CUTLERY HALL OF FAME
• BLADE SHOW DO’S & DON’TS
• KNIVES MAKING THEIR DEBUT AT BLADE SHOW 2024