The 120/Life Dink Awards 2025 Winners — Paddle & Paddle Reviewer of the Year – The Dink Pickleball

The 120/Life Dink Awards 2025 Winners — Paddle & Paddle Reviewer of the 12 months – The Dink Pickleball

February 18, 2026


That is it, the massive one, the one you have been ready for…

It is time to announce Paddle of the 12 months and Paddle Reviewer of the 12 months for The 120/Life Dink Awards.

Greater than 10,000 folks solid their ballots this time round – and we won’t thanks sufficient for serving to make this 12 months’s 120/Life Dink Awards the most important fan-choice pickleball awards ever.

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We admire you taking the time to weigh in, debate, and assist the folks and groups that make this sport what it’s. And a giant shoutout as properly to our title sponsor, 120/Life, for backing the awards and serving to us deliver this celebration to life.

In case you missed it, listed below are the winners of the opposite 2025 Dink Awards classes:

The 120/Life Dink Awards 2025 Winners — Participant Classes

Greater than 10,000 folks solid their ballots for pickleball’s largest fan-choice awards — listed below are your 2025 winners within the Participant class.

The 120/Life Dink Awards 2025 Winners — Media Classes

Greater than 10,000 folks solid their ballots for pickleball’s largest fan-choice awards — listed below are your 2025 winners within the Media class.

The 120/Life Dink Awards 2025 Winners — Services & Organizations Classes

Greater than 10,000 folks solid their ballots for pickleball’s largest fan-choice awards — listed below are your 2025 winners within the Services & Organizations classes.

Let’s Get Into the Awards

If you wish to hear PickPod co-hosts Zane Navratil and Nico the Lefty focus on the winners, you are able to do that proper now:

Beneath are your 2025 120/Life Dink Awards winners for:

  • Paddle of the 12 months
  • Paddle Reviewer of the 12 months

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Paddle Reviewer of the 12 months

Winner: John Kew

Anybody into pickleball paddles is aware of the pool of expertise reviewing the most recent drop appears to get deeper by the month. It is a spoil of riches on YouTube for anybody on the lookout for a very good assessment of what is new and why it would simply be the paddle for you.

There are, definitely, a handful of fellows who’re on the high of this recreation. Chris Olson from Pickleball Studio involves thoughts – he is gained this class of The Dink Awards prior to now. However this 12 months, a brand new hero of the folks emerged: John Kew.

For the uninitiated, John brings an unequalled depth of analytical data and specificity to his critiques, moving into on all of the metrics and oddities that come collectively to make a pickleball paddle what it’s. The dude has his personal ball cannon in his basement, in any case.

He is a worthy winner, and we’re completely satisfied to see the folks agree.

Try his channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@johnkewpickleball

Paddle of the 12 months

Winner: Bread and Butter Loco

We’re dwelling within the golden age of pickleball paddles – so many manufacturers making so many superb paddles on a regular basis. It is onerous to discover a unhealthy paddle nowadays. And the cherry on high: many manufacturers are specializing in two areas that buyers care about essentially the most – value and sturdiness.

This 12 months’s listing of nominees was stacked. In alphabetical order:

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Newcomer model RPM, the brainchild of professional James Ignatowich, virtually took the highest spot, and the JOOLA Professional IV was shut, too. However ultimately, the respect went to the Bread and Butter Loco.

Bread and Butter has been making killer paddles with show-stopping branding for years (try the Filth), however the Loco actually put them on the map in 2025. It is turn into a favourite in rec and aggressive circles, and topped many reviewers’ lists of paddles of the 12 months (John Kew amongst them).

It is the proper mix of energy and management, sturdiness and price-point, with a novel aesthetic you do not see plastered throughout open play.

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Bread and Butter is doing a full restock within the spring, however for anybody who desires the widebody Loco, you may rating a reduction once you use the code thedink.

Congrats to the winners!



Steven is a passionate sports enthusiast and writer who enjoys sharing insights, stories, and analysis from the world of football and beyond. With a keen eye for detail and a love for the game, he brings readers closer to the action while keeping them informed and entertained.