About Dealer Design Awards

A new collection of honorees have been named in The NEWS’ 2012 ninth annual Dealer Design Awards program. 

Each gold, silver, and bronze winning product is featured among the pages of this issue and will be added to the pages of HVACR history as DD winners.

Winning a DD — the coveted trophy that awards design excellence and innovation — is the privilege shared, this year, by 39 of the 81 overall Dealer Design entrants. Four others received honorable mentions as well. All of the 81 products were judged by contractors from diverse sectors of the HVACR industry.

This year’s winners took careful notice to specific elements of design that help make a contractor’s job easier and more efficient. DD pushes entrants to save contractors time and money while still offering technologically advanced equipment. This competition is a gathering of many different-sized manufacturers competing not on the quality of the paint or beauty of the product, but competing instead on design features. Some entries are ground-breaking pioneers in the industry; others are inventive applications of industry tools. No matter the entry, one thing is clear, the winners of this competition have plenty to be proud of and The NEWS would like to congratulate them for their efforts and successes.

 “The annual response we receive from vendors and contractors for the Dealer Design Awards program is amazing. This really is the only contest of its kind in the industry where only contractors make the decision about the award winners. The contractor judges enjoy participating because they can review some relatively new products in the market, thereby occasionally giving their own companies an advantage with some information that their competitors might not yet have,” said Kyle Gargaro, editor-in-chief of The NEWS. “I want to thank the manufacturers that entered their products and services.”

The following pages highlight and honor the winning entries from each of the 13 product categories. On them you will find photos and details about each product, some of which include the comments of the contractor judges.