Vaude’s Power Lizard Ultra Light tent has been named as winner of the Backpacking Tent Category at Camping magazine’s annual awards.

The Camping Magazine Awards (in association with Millets) are judged by a panel of top camping journalists and readers recognising the hard work and innovation that goes into each product. The judging criteria included: value for money; quality of service materials, build and specification; innovation and originality; excellence of design and styling, safety as well as price.

Europe’s environmentally-friendly outdoor brand VAUDE has been distinguished with two awards for its sustainability activism at the ISPO International Trade Fair for Sports Equipment and Fashion in Munich. VAUDE won the Eco Responsibility Award 2011 for its tent, Blue One, which was honored with ‘environmentally-friendliest product’ in the Accessories category. In addition, VAUDE won in the Company Ecolution category with “most sustainable company”. With this newly introduced award, the trade show honored the comprehensive and longstanding environmentalism of the family-owned company from Tettnang.

As a German Mountain Sports brand, VAUDE is committed to conserving nature and protecting it for the outdoor experience. And now VAUDE has found the perfect partner to further the cause: the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). This association is one of Germany’s largest independent environmental conservation organizations and also one of the most active. 1% of all sales of VAUDE Green Shape products now flow directly into WWF Germany projects for children and youth. A WWF-VAUDE Alpine Camp for outdoor-loving kids and youth will kick off the partnership.

The Norrsken is an air mattress / insulation pad that uses Primaloft Infinity fiber in an innovative construction to combine excellent thermal efficiency with a lightweight, small pack size. The longer version of the pad weighs just 600 grams, while a shorter version weighs in at an incredible 500 grams – definitely qualifying as a “Northern Light” (Norwegian meaning of ‘Norrsken’) to meet the highest demands in Alpine use and in expeditions in extremely cold regions.

At the start of 2011, Peter Sontheimer took over as Product Director for all three VAUDE product segments: Mountain Sports, Bike Sports and Packs ’n Bags – a position overseeing all VAUDE products. The establishment of this senior position and ensuing company restructuring are important measures for strengthening the VAUDE brand and part of a new brand positioning initiative.

The Environment Secretary of the state of Baden-Württemberg/Germany, Tanja Gönner, endowed VAUDE with the environmental recognition award on December 9, in Stuttgart. The jury rated the environmental protection and the sustainable management of the German Mountain Sports Supplier as “exemplary” and “ground-breaking”.

The Environment Award of the state of Baden-Württemberg honors particularly outstanding achievements in promoting operational environmental protection and environmental corporate management. Tanja Gönner, the Environment Secretary of the state of Baden-Württemberg, awarded VAUDE this recognition. Yet the road to the awards ceremony had been a long one. Numerous businesses had applied to compete in the four categories: “Services”, “Handcraft”, “Industry” and “Trade”. Only businesses that achieved a role model status were awarded. In her inaugural speech in the Neuen Schloss in Stuttgart, Tanja Gönner commented on the difficulties the jury encountered: “Awarding the prize was anything but easy.”