The 2009 Casting of the Year award was presented to Craft Pattern and Mold Inc., Maple Plaine, Minn., for the motorcycle frame casting it produced for the Polaris Core concept bike. The casting consolidates more than 20 parts into a single component, reducing weight and tooling costs. It incorporates the complex shapes and thin and thick sections needed to meet the application's function, all while making the part look clean and simple.

To see photos of the Casting of the Year, as well as Best-in-Show and Honorable Mention winners, click here.

 MODERN CASTING has selected Blackhawk de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., Santa Catarina, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and Intermet PCPC Group, Stevensville, Michigan, as this year’s Metalcasters of the Year.

Past winners include Signicast, Hartford, Wis., General Motors’ Saginaw Metal Casting Operations, Saginaw, Mich.; Dotson Iron Castings, Mankato, Minn.; Hayes Lemmerz Montague, Montague, Mich.; John Deere Foundry, Waterloo, Iowa; International Truck and Engine Corp.’s Waukesha Manufacturing Facility, Waukesha, Wis.; Neenah Foundry Co., Neenah, Wis.; Mercury Marine-Mercury Castings, Fond du Lac, Wis.; and American Cast Iron Pipe Co., Birmingham, Ala.

To nominate a metalcasting facility for this award, click here.