The coveted awards were handed out to the winners at a special MIPA awards ceremony and party held during the Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Germany on Thursday, April 7th, 2011.

Zildjian was the biggest winner: their Gen16 AE Cymbals were awarded two MIPA awards at 2011's MusikMesse in Frankfurt, Germany. The first award handed out was for Most Innovative Product given to the top product across all brands and instruments. Gen16 then took home a second award in the category Electronic Drums.

Here's an overview of the winner and other nominees in each drums and percussion related award category:

Acoustic Drums

• Winner: DW Performance Drums
  
• Also nominated: Pearl Reference Pure Drums and Sonor Ascent Drums

Cymbals

• Winner: Sabian Omni Cymbals
  
• Also nominated: Meinl Classics Custom Cymbals and Paiste Formula 602 Cymbals

Drum Hardware

• Winner: Gibraltar Turning Point Hardware
  
• Also nominated: Mapex The Raptor Bassdrum Pedal and Tama Speed Cobra Bassdrum Pedal

Drumheads

• Winner: Evans EC2 SST
  
• Also nominated: Aquarian inHead and Remo Powerstroke Pro

Drumsticks

• Winner: Vic Firth Kinetic Force Sticks
  Also nominated: Los Cabos Red Hickory Sticks and Regal Tip Cajon Brush

Electronic Drums

• Winner: Zildjian Gen16 Acoustic/Electric Cymbal System
  
• Also nominated: Dave Smith Instruments Tempest and Roland V-Tour V-Drums TD-9KX2

Percussion Instrument

• Winner: Meinl Journey Djembes
  
• Also nominated: Remo Not So Loud Tubanos and Latin Percussion Qube Shaker

Most innovative product

• Winner: Zildjian Gen 16 A/E cymbals
  
• Also nominated: Kemper Profiling Amplifier and Waves SoundGrid