2025 Knife Of The Year® Award Winners

BLADE Staff

June 9, 2025

The 2025 BLADE Magazine Knife of the Year® Awards proved tougher—and tighter—than ever before.

As the years go on the BLADE Magazine Knife Of The Year® Awards only get sharper. The 2025 chapter, held during the June 7-9 BLADE Show at the Cobb County Galleria, is a case in point.

Hosting among the largest fields to date in the factory knife competition, the contents had roughly 350-400 entries vying for the title of “Best” in their respective categories. Add-in production knives are reaching an unimaginable height in both design and manufacturing quality, the event was as tight as ever. Speaking to the stiffness of the competition, two categories produced contender finishers—an honor meant to recognize a creation that is nearly on par with the category winner.

The winners were selected by a panel of four judges, experts drawn from different backgrounds in the knife industry. Below are their selections of knives that are more than worthy of calling themselves Knife Of The Year®.

BLADE Magazine Overall Knife Of The Year® & Imported Fixed Blade Of The Year®

UG Tools Tiny

UG Tool Tiny BLADE Magazine Knife Of The Year® — JFRASIER PHOTOGRAPHY

American-Made Fixed Blade Of The Year®

Benchmade Dacian

Best Imported Folder

Vero Avid 1

Best Imported Folder Contender

Anso of Denmark Toko

American-Made Folding Knife Of The Year®

Heretic Knives Wraith Auto V.4

Most Innovative Imported Design

Work Sharp RMX Reverse Tanto

Most Innovative American Design

Sleeping Tiger Tigress

Best Buy Of The Year®

QSP Knife Glyde Lock Penguin

Knife Collaboration Of The Year

Shirogorov Knives/Charles Marlowe RKMP

Shirogorov Knives/Charles Marlow RKMP — JFRASIER PHOTOGRAPHY

Knife Collaboration Of The Year Contender

Lionsteel/Emerson LEOne Mid

Investor/Collector Knife Of The Year®

Shirogorov Knives Stellar-BCD

Automatic Knife Of The Year

Zero Tolerance Knives 0556

Kitchen Knife Of The Year®

Kai USA Shun Shiranami

Manufacturing Quality Award

Shirogorov Knives

Knife Accessory Of The Year

Ulticlip APH Clip

Best Of The Rest

Tactile Turn Switch

See More Award Winners:

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