The International Superyacht Society (ISS) has instituted a new award that honours the best Passenger Yacht Code (PYC)-compliant yacht. 

The ISS recognises the significant benefit of the PYC related to carriage of up to 36 passengers while in charter and also for those in private use under the Red Ensign Group, it said in a statement.

ISS also said it recognises the extraordinary achievement of designers and builders in complying with challenging PYC restrictions while also creating incredible lifestyle designs using exotic materials and unique construction techniques.   

For these two reasons, ISS says it has developed its important new PYC Design Award with judging criteria provided by one of the authors of the code. 

The PYC design award joins ISS’s other seven prestigious design awards: 24-40m power, 40-65m power, 65m+ power, 24-40m sail, 40m+ sail, best interior and best refit.   

Cayman Islands Shipping Registry and Wright Maritime Group have joined to co-sponsor this prestigious inaugural award.

ISS President Derik Wagner remarks: “We believe that building a yacht to any code is challenging and remarkable. We also believe that those professionals and owners that have designed and built a PYC yacht should be identified and encouraged to continue in the development of technologies and design solutions that meet the most challenging yacht building codes while meeting the highest living environment and aesthetic achievement.”   

As 2016 is the first year for this award and only a small number of yachts have been built to PYC, ISS has decided to include all PYC yachts delivered up to and including 2016. For next year and beyond, nomination timeline eligibility for the PYC award will be based on that of all ISS design awards, currently 1 May through 30 April of the following year.