Can You Design a Life Jacket That Boaters Will Wear?

The submission period for the competition has closed and winners will be announced at the 2015 IBEX Exhibition & Conference in Louisville, Kentucky.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know why boaters don't like to wear life jackets. They can be hot and bulky. Some are too expensive. Or, at least that's what some boaters say. So here's your big chance: design a better life jacket that more folks will wear, and you could be $10,000 richer. The deadline for design entries with the 2015 Innovations in Life Jacket Design Competition is April 15. The competition's sponsors, the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water and the Personal Floatation Device Manufacturers Association, are encouraging boaters, armchair inventors, design, engineering or high school students to submit their design soon  to

BoatUS.org/design.

The best entries will be posted on the BoatUS Foundation website and Facebook page for voting by the public in June and those votes will assist a panel of experts who will ultimately pick the winner to be announced at the September 2015 International Boat Builders Exhibition and Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. Additional cash prizes are offered for second and third place.