Award criteria
The jury will rate each entry on the basis of the following:
The jury may decide not to choose three finalists if it believes the level to be below the standard.
All decisions made by the jury are final and cannot be subject to any appeal.
Jury
The jury of each category is comprised of experts in their respective fields such as:
Chair - John Baulch
John has over 40 years’ experience of working in the toy trade press, dating back to 1980. In 2011, he launched his own toy trade magazine – Toy World – which has become indispensable reading for anyone connected with the toy trade. John is also personally responsible for writing the Friday Blog, an online column which offers insight and analysis on the latest developments from the world of toys each week.
Astrid Specht
Astrid Specht is the acting editor in chief of German trade magazines TOYS and 1st Steps. While TOYS magazine has been dealing with all things toys, games, licensing, books, gifting, DIY, creative and stationery for more than 50 years, 1st Steps magazine has been reaching out to retailers and manufactures of the baby and toddler industry as well as young parents and midwives since 2010. Astrid has hosted panel discussions, given industry talks and was a member of the jury board for the Bologna Licensing Awards 2024 and the Kids Design Award at Kind + Jugend before it was discontinued. She is passionate about providing two industries with stories on new developments and up to date product information and she loves everything that makes the lives of children brighter, happier and more fun.
Dr Amanda Gummer
Amanda has a PhD in neuropsychology, the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education and over 20 years experience working with children and families. Widely considered as the UK’s go to expert on play, toys and child development, she combines her theoretical knowledge with a refreshingly pragmatic approach to family life, that resonates both with parents and professionals. Her book ‘Play’ was published in May 2105 and has been translated into two different languages with extracts being published in the USA’s Toy Industry Association’s Genius of Play initiative.
Amanda’s international profile is growing rapidly – she is spoke at the European Parliament in Sept 2019 on child development and play and in Dallas in October discussing her research. Amanda is regularly in the media, continues to take an active role in research, and is often involved in government policy around children’s issues.
Dr Martin Porter
Martin joined CISL from the European Climate Foundation, where he was working as Europe Group Co-ordinator. He has also led their Industry and Innovation programme and has a long track record of working on industry, environment and sustainability issues prior to taking up that role in 2015. He is also an expert advisor to the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 on climate and resource issues, a representative on the Economic and Social Committee’s Commission on Industrial Change, a member of UCL’s European Institute Advisory Board and a member of the advisory board to the Sustainable Biomass Programme.
He became a Senior Associate for CISL in 2011 and prior to that developed his public affairs consultancy activities largely in this area. He led advocacy campaigns for a range of blue-chip multinational clients, trade associations and coalitions as he established his career in Brussels through international PR agencies such as Weber Shandwick Worldwide and Edelman PR Worldwide, as well as co-founding Brussels’ first ‘think-do tank’, The Centre.
Florian Hess
In his role as Executive Board Member Fair Management, Florian Hess oversees trade fair organisation and marketing. He also looks after the network of representatives, the World of Toys international trade fair programme, and legal matters. Florian Hess joined Spielwarenmesse eG in 2016 as Director Fair Management where he was in charge of exhibitor activities across all trade-fair projects and their further development. After graduating in business administration, he gained extensive experience overseeing various strategy and change management projects abroad. He also organised a leading international exhibition for capital goods and was Managing Director of Hess Consulting GmbH – a service provider for trade fairs such as the Spielwarenmesse.
Frédérique Tutt
As the global toy industry advisor for Circana, Frédérique Tutt provides strategic insights and analysis to CEOs and other C-suite executives of global toy brands, manufacturers, retail partners, and licensors. Over her industry career spanning more than 20 years, Tutt also launched Circana’s EuroToys service in France and ran the firm’s UK Toys team.
A go-to expert on the $100 billon global toys sector, Tutt is a regular contributor to major media outlets such as The Times, Le Figaro, Les Echos, Le Monde, BBC, Dagbladet Børsen, The Grocer, and international trade magazines. She frequently delivers keynotes and trend presentations at top toy and entertainment events and conferences and has been a guest lecturer at the Angoulême University for Children Marketing Studies.
Tutt has a master’s degree in Marketing and Management from the Ecole Supérieure de Gestion in Paris, part of the Paris School of Business.
Helena Mansell-Stopher
Helena Mansell-Stopher is CEO and founder at Products of Change, a digital platform that provides a safe place for industry to learn, connect and transition to a more sustainable future. Helena also curates the sustainability in licensing conference (SILC) the first of its kind in the brand and licensing industry, formed to advance the industries knowledge on future innovations within the sustainability space.
Helena is an advisor to the United Nations Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Initiative and Board Director to Recycle to Read, an environmental educator who builds systems to unlock value in the waste stream to benefit schools.
With a 25 year career in the licensing industry across media and lifestyle brands, working with companies such as HIT Entertainment, Mattel, Marvel and National Geographic, as well as a 5 year career in sustainability, Helena is at the cutting edge of closing the knowledge gap to advance the industry forward to a sustainable future.
Magdalena Verseckas
Magdalena Verseckas is responsible for creating new projects in areas of accessibility and inclusion at the European Disability Forum (EDF), a unique platform that brings together representative organisation of persons with disabilities from across Europe. She supports EDF’s member organizations all over Europe in their work and obtaining funding to make the disability movement strong and powerful.
Magdalena has an academic background in special education and psychology. She has been working in area of disability advocacy for over 20 years. She loves graphic novels, animation, creative toys and jigsaw puzzles. Mum of two.
Pablo Busó
With more than 15 years’ experience in the toy sector, he holds a degree in Market Research and Techniques and a degree in Business Administration and Management, and is head of AIJU’s User Research area at AIJU, Spain.
He has extensive experience in the coordination and execution of national and European projects and tenders related to children’s research. He oversees the implementation of R&D projects in children’s products companies. His main lines of research are focused on the analysis of child user behaviour, lifestyles, consumer insights, emotional responses and user requirements, in addition to the validation of prototypes and technologies with users and companies. He has written several publications, articles and posts related to these topics. He has also participated in several international conferences as a speaker for the European Commission, the CEN, the Spielwarenmesse and various universities and associations.
Sebastian Gonzalez
Sebastian Gonzalez serves as the Policy and Advocacy Officer at COFACE Families Europe, where he oversees disability and care policies. He has an academic background in international cooperation and EU policy, holding master’s degrees in EU Affairs and International Development Studies. Sebastian has extensive experience in social policy and international cooperation, having worked in various European and national civil society organisations as well as within the European Committee of the Regions.
Since 2016, when COFACE Families Europe published a European study of toy catalogues “Making or breaking stereotypes?”, COFACE Families Europe has run an annual social media campaign wave on #ToysandDiversity. The 2019 campaign, “Toy stories”, and was the first Europe-wide survey on “Toys and Diversity”, highlighting the importance of letting children decide what to play with for their creativity, imagination, learning development and fun.
Tessa Trabue
Tessa Trabue is a campaigner for Let Toys Be Toys, an award-winning UK based campaign challenging gender stereotypes in childhood, especially in toy marketing, publishing, education and the media. Tessa joined the campaign in early 2013 after being inspired to act when seeing the negative effects of gendered marketing on her young child. Let Toys Be Toys has successfully convinced 15 major UK toy retailers to remove ‘girls’ and ‘boys’ signposting in the toy aisles, and let children have the freedom to choose things that interest them most, free from gender stereotypes. The campaign is currently working with the toy industry to persuade manufacturers to make their packaging and advertising more inclusive.
Tessa is a founding member of the campaign’s offshoot Let Books Be Books, which has persuaded 11 children’s book publishers to drop the gendered labels. She is also co-founder of Let Toys Be Toys Toymark award, which celebrates UK retailers that model good practice in marketing to children. Tessa is a member of the UK Fawcett Society’s Commission on Gender Stereotypes in Early Childhood. She has also acted as a toy judge two times each for the Science Toy Award and for the annual MadeforMums Toy Awards.
