The jury of the Dutch Creative Heroes Awards has announced which contenders are in the running for the title of Creative Hero 2019. Dubbed the “Oscars of the creative industry”, the awards are handed out annually to professionals in the creative sector that have made a real impact on people and the environment.

The awards
This year, the awards are divided in six categories, ranging from personal scale (1:1 Award) to global scale (1:1,000,000,000 Award). The jury, consisting of 17 people, was a divers panel of designers, architects, philosophers and entrepreneurs. Creativity, entrepreneurship and positive impact were the main criteria according to jury president Taco Schmidt, which are aspects represented by the current 29 nominees.

The Creative Heroes Awards aim to put the strength of creativity into the limelight. Rather than focusing on the innovations themselves, initiators Guus van Maarschalkerweerd and MaterialDistrict director Jeroen van Oostveen prefer to zoom in on the people behind the ground-breaking projects and sustainable innovations in the Netherlands.

Nominees
For the 1:1 Award (impact on a personal scale), one of the nominees is Rombout Frieling, inventor of the VertiWalk, a lift that allows the user to pull themselves up (read more about this project here). Marina Toeters is also one of the nominees for her work in designing circular smart textiles.

Pim van Baarsen and Luc van Hoeckel’s project Super Local creates all kinds of furniture using local materials in local workshops in developing countries (including the Bottle Up project, read more here). They have been nominated for the 1:100 Award, which awards impact on a small social scale. Bas Timmer is nominated for his Sheltersuit, which is a combination of a jacket, a sleeping bag and a storage bag in one, made from recycled and upcycled materials.

For the award for impact on a large scale, solar designer Marjan van Aubel was nominated for her work on smarter application of solar cells, like a window that generates energy from daylight. Another nominee is Shahar Livne, whose mission it is to research world problems and tackle these via stories behind materials. Read more about her projects here and here.

The 1:100,000 Award celebrates projects with an impact on urban scale. Daria Biryukova, with her glaze made from bottom ash (more here), Hester van Dijk & Reinder Bakker, better known as Overtreders W, with their circular design projects, and Simone Post with her projects using waste materials of large companies (more here and here) are some of the nominees.

For impact on a national scale (1:1,000,000), Jasper Gabriëlse and Melvin Loggies of the company Seepje have been nominated. They promote the use of washnuts to do your laundry naturally. Marius Smit’s Plastic Whale fishes up plastic from the Amsterdam canals and recycles it into new products.

Lastly, for the 1:1,000,000,000 Award, the nominees are Lex Hoefsloot of Lightyear One, a solar powered car, Eric Klarenbeek & Maartje Dros who use algae to 3D print objects, Daan Roosegaarde, and Tjeerd Veenhoven, who uses all kinds of natural resources to make surprising new materials.

For all nominees, click here (in Dutch).

The award ceremony
On Thursday 27 June, six of these 29 nominees will receive an award in Undercurrent in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. From these, the audience will pick who they think has had the most impact and who will be awarded the Superhero Award.

If you’re a creative professional and you want to be at the award show, click here for a ticket (in Dutch).

MaterialDistrict is mediapartner of the Creative Heroes Awards.