The finalists for The Licensing Awards 2010 have been revealed. The winners will be announced at a lavish Licensing Awards Ball on Thursday 9 September 2010 at the Lancaster London Hotel, London.

“Participation in the awards at every level was at an all time high - over 5,000 products were entered, over 60 retail buyers formed the judging panel and nominations for the retailer and licensed property awards were up by 35%,” confirmed Ian Hyder, director of The Licensing Awards. “The addition of a brand new award - Best Licensed Marketing Communications Award – means that The Licensing Awards 2010 truly reflect all the dynamism and innovation within the licensing industry over the past 12 months,” he added.

The Licensing Awards, now in their fifth year, are owned and organised by The Licensing Source Book, part of Max Publishing. These prestigious Awards celebrate the very best achievements over the past year across entertainment, brands, sport and celebrity properties in the evolving world of licensing.

Emap Connect the organisers of Spring Fair (www.springfair.com) and Autumn Fair (www.autumnfair.com), is headline sponsor for this year’s awards and will be joined by a ‘who’s who’ of leading brands sponsoring the individual category awards. In addition, industry trade association LIMA UK has reinforced its commitment as an official supporter of the awards and The Light Fund will be the charity beneficiary.

The Product Awards Finalists A record breaking 5,000+ products were entered into the Product Awards this year by a vast array of licensees, from large multi-nationals to small niche players. Each product entry was judged by an extensive panel of top retail buyers including those from Tesco, Argos, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Amazon, WHSmith, Mothercare, HMV, Next, Bhs, Play.com and Harrods. The judges assessed each product entry considering the excellence of design, innovation and originality, consumer targeting and quality of manufacture and packaging.

Best Licensed Toys or Games Range
Dr Who toy range from Character Options
Peppa Pig toy range from Character Options
Science Museum range from Great Gizmos
Peppa Pig role play range from HTI
Timmy Time toy range from Vivid
Wallace and Gromit Cracking Contraptions from Wow Stuff

Best Licensed Paper Products Or Stationery Range
The Gruffalo stationery range from Blueprint
Hello Kitty “Sweetie” stationery range from Blueprint
Top Gear calendars and diaries from Danilo Promotions
Twilight greeting card range from Hallmark
Hasbro Classics crackers from International Greetings
Charlie and Lola activity sets from Portico Designs

Best Licensed Giftware Range
Moomin bags and accessories from Disaster Designs
Where’s Wally? gift range from Half Moon Bay
Barbie luxury handbags from Paul’s Boutique
Star Wars gifts from Underground Toys
Top Gear Stig range from Wesco
The Gruffalo gift range from Wild & Wolf

Best Licensed Children’s Apparel Range
Ben 10 range from Blues Clothing for Bhs
Minnie Mouse range from Cohen & Wilks International for Bhs
Little Miss T-Shirts from Fabric flavours
Toy Story Baby Boys range from Knitmania for Next
Hungry Caterpillar baby range from Brecrest for TU Clothing at Sainsbury’s
Hello Kitty London range from Watermelon for M&S

Best Licensed Adult Apparel Range
Danger Mouse t-shirt range from Chunk Clothing
Top Gun t-shirt range from Famous Forever
Wizard of Oz ruby slippers from Newmans for Harrods
Sex and the City foldable shoes from Redfoot
Gossip Girl range from Miss Selfridge
SpongeBob Squarepants underpants from BC International for Next

Best Licensed Dress-Up Or Partyware Range
Mr Potato Head dress-up from Christy’s
Toy Story 3 dress-up from Christy’s
Super Mario dress-up from Rubies
Wallace & Gromit adult dress-up from Smiffy’s
Where’s Wally? partyware from Talking Tables
Peppa Pig dress-up from VMC

Best Licensed Written, Listening or Learning Range
Ben 10 book range from Egmont
Waybuloo book range from Egmont
Hello Kitty book range from HarperCollins Children’s Books
Thomas the Tank Engine manual from Haynes
Peppa Pig electronic learning range from Inspiration Works
In The Night Garden range from Vtech

Best Licensed Home Décor Range
London Underground tableware from Blisshome
James Cameron’s Avatar Wall Art range from GBeye
Hello Kitty bedroom accessories from Groovy UK
Wallace & Gromit housewares range from Peter Black for M&S
Mr Men and Little Miss toothbrushes from Ultimate
Disney Princess Bedroom Furniture from Worlds Apart

Best Licensed Food Or Drink Range
Wallace and Gromit organic baking kits from Bacheldre Watermill
Hello Kitty face shaped mints in tins from Find The Three Daughters
Roary the Racing Car tinned wholewheat pasta from Crosse & Blackwell
Hello Kitty seasonal gift collection from Kinnerton
Disney/Annabel Karmel Healthy Snacks from Lightbody Ventures
Nintendo tinned confectionery range from Wesco

Best Licensed Brand Range
Lego Electronics range from Digital Blue
The Royal Mail Stamp Collection from Gift Republic
The Haynes Guide To Grooming range from Grace Cole
The Marmite Range from Kimm & Miller
Swizzels Matlow cosmetics range from The Make Up Factory
Ladybird Archive Collection from Wild & Wolf

The Innovation Award
Thomas the Tank Engine musical handwash from Baylis and Harding
The Gruffalo Trunki from Magmatic
The Simpsons – Homer Simpson Voice from Locutio Voice Technologies for TomTom Satellite Navigation Systems
Star Wars Science Darth Vader Robotic Arm from Brainstorm
Spectacular Spider-Man designer wallpaper mural for kids from Walltastic
Wallace & Gromit Fetchomatic from Wow Stuff

The Retailer Award Finalists
The finalists of the Retailer Award categories were reached after thousands of nomination forms were sent to manufacturers, suppliers and importers of licensed products, inviting them to state which retailers have excelled in their retail delivery of licensed merchandise to the public over the last year. The consolidated results of this nomination process were then validated by a panel of industry experts to arrive at the final line-up.

Best Pre-School Retailer of Licensed Products
Argos
Asda
Mothercare
Tesco
Toys R Us

Best Kids Retailer of Licensed Products
Argos
Sainsbury’s
Smyths Toys Superstores
Tesco
Toys R Us

Best Brands Retailer of Licensed Products
(Celebrities, sports properties as well as traditional brands are classified as brands for the purposes of The Licensing Awards)
Boots
Debenhams
HMV
John Lewis
M&S

Best Direct Selling Retailer of Licensed Products
Amazon
Argos
ForbiddenPlanet.com
Next
Play.com

Best Overall Retailer Of Licensed Products
The finalists in this category are the winners of the other retail categories and therefore will not be announced until the Awards event. .

Best Licensed Marketing Communications Award Finalists
This brand new award for 2010 covers the best use of a licence in the promotion or marketing of a product or service belonging to a third party. The entries to this category were considered by a panel of experts drawn from the world of licensing, promotions and advertising, with Richard Pink, managing director of promotions specialist Pink Key Consulting, chairing the panel.

Postman Pat Specsavers 2 for 1 campaign from Classic Media
Terminator Salvation from Hunger, Pizza Hut Delivery promotion from Sony
Thomas & Friends National Autistic Society Train Walks initiative from HIT Entertainment
Wallace & Gromit npower energy efficiency campaign from Aardman Rights
Wallace & Gromit Turbo-charged Kingsmill campaign from Aardman Rights

The Licensed Property Awards Finalists
The finalists of the Licensed Property categories were arrived at after thousands of nomination forms were sent to retailers and licensees inviting them to state which licensed properties have excelled over the last year. The consolidated results of this nomination process were then validated by a panel of industry experts to arrive at the final line-up.

Best Pre-School Licensed Property
The Gruffalo
In The Night Garden
Mr Men & Little Miss
Peppa Pig
Thomas & Friends
Waybuloo

Best Schoolers, Tween or Teen Licensed Property
Barbie
Ben 10
Hello Kitty
SpongeBob SquarePants
Star Wars
Toy Story

Best Sports Licensed Property
Arsenal Football Club
Chelsea FC
England Football
England RFU
Liverpool Football Club
Manchester United Football Club

Best Brands Licensed Property
Haynes
JCB
Marmite
Me to You
The Stanley Works
V&A

Best Celebrity Licensed Property
The Beatles
Cath Kidston
Elvis
Emma Bridgewater
Michael Jackson
Orla Kiely

The Honorary Achievement Award
This special award is to be given to someone who has contributed greatly to the licensing industry. No finalists are announced, but the winner is decided as a result of nominations received.

Jakki Brown, director of The Licensing Awards and The Licensing Source Book Europe, comments: “The quality of entries across the board this year has been truly outstanding, reflecting the huge depth of talent within the industry, we are all looking forward to the revealing of the Licensing Awards 2010 winners at what is destined to be an amazing event in September.”

Matt Bidwell, head of marketing at Emap Connect comments, “Spring Fair International is delighted to once again be headline sponsors of The Licensing Awards. Every year thousands of new, creative licensed products are launched at Spring Fair, which are indicative of the hugely dynamic and innovative UK licensing industry. We wish all the finalists the best of luck for the Awards.”

The Licensing Awards Ball itself is guaranteed to be a night of surprises – from the entrance to the event, to the themed drinks reception, amazing animations, gourmet dinner, awards ceremony, and fantastic raffle and competition prizes. There will also be dancing, a post-awards bar, a casino and a goody bag to beat all goody bags – a fantastic evening which brings the whole licensing industry together.

Over 900 tickets for The Licensing Awards Ball have already been sold. For tickets to The Licensing Awards Ball contact Tracey or Cherry at Event Solutions on 01372 841001. A ticket booking form is also on the website: www.thelicensingawards.co.uk