The winners of this year’s Licensing Awards have been crowned in a glittering ceremony, with over 1,200 industry executives filling The Great Room at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel for an evening of celebration. The event opened with a special industry spoof of BBC’s The Traitors.

Jakki Brown, MD at Max Publishing (which owns and organises The Licensing Awards) officially welcomed everyone, saying: “There are 1,200 of us here, all to celebrate everything that is great about the licensing industry – the people, the products, the brands and the passion. We’re all in the entertainment business and so this event, the largest awards event for the licensing industry in the world, just has to reflect that. It should be fun and memorable – and hopefully tonight will be that and much more.”

The awards were more than ably hosted by the multi-award nominated Suzi Ruffell, with the evening coming to an emotional close with long term licensing professional, Richard Hollis, being honoured with this year’s Honorary Achievement.

The awards were once again backed by Brand Licensing Europe as headline sponsor with further support from industry trade body, Licensing International. 

Here are the key awards that are particularly relevant to TnP –

The UK rising star award
Corinne Duckworth, commercial executive, Dreamtex

Best retailer of preschool licensed products (age group 0-5)
Smyths Toys

Best retailer of kids’ licensed products (age group 5-16)
Primark

The Radar Award
Cardfactory

Best licensed retail marketing initiative
Barbie The Movie Campaign with Zara

Best licensed live event
Stranger Things: The First Shadow Theatrical Production from Sonia Friedman Productions

Best licensed preschool apparel or accessories range (0-5 years)
Peppa Pig x Natural History Museum Collection for F&F at Tesco from Blues Group

Best licensed children’s apparel or accessories range
Squishmallows Collection from H&M

Best licensed dress-up or partyware range
Wednesday Dress-up Range from Rubies Masquerade

Best licensed written, listening or learning range
Peter Rabbit Cross Stitch Magazine from Hachette Partworks

The Innovation Award
Real FX Disney Stitch Puppet from WOW! Stuff

Best preschool licensed property (age group 0-5)
Bluey

Best children’s or tween licensed property (age group 5-12)
Squishmallows

Best gaming licensed property
Minecraft

Best film licensed property
Barbie The Movie

The Classic Licensed Property Award
Hello Kitty

What Kids Love Award
Pokémon