The dusty debate: core-collapse supernovae and dust

Dust plays an important role in our understanding of the near and distant Universe. The enormous amounts (>~10⁸ M _⊙) of dust observed at high redshifts have forced us to revisit the commonly-invoked sites of dust production. Although core-collapse supernovae are the prime candidates for cosmic dust production, their actual contribution to the dust budget has been the subject of much debate in recent years. Here, I will discuss results from several vigorous observational campaigns aimed at quantifying the amount of dust produced by core-collapse supernovae. Although sample sizes are still modest, I will attempt to put the role of supernovae as dust producers into perspective.