The Beano, Marvel Comics, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and top fantasy adventure drams Game of Thrones are among the final nominees in this year’s Licensing Awards, announced this week.

Approaching 5,000 licensed products were entered into the Product Awards this year. The Judging Panel comprised of almost 100 top retail buyers, including those from Toys R Us, Tesco, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Next, The Entertainer, Waterstones, Lakeland, Asda, Mothercare, Joy, BHS, Paperchase, Paulton’s Park, Blue Inc, MiniClub and River Island.

The final nominees are:

Best Licensed Toys or Games Range

• Despicable Me Remote Control Inflatable from Bladez Toys
• Disney Princess My First Toddler Dolls from Jakks Pacific
• Doc McStuffins Role Play Range from Flair
• Fisher Price ‘Classics’ Range from Basic Fun
• The Gruffalo Wooden Toys from Bajo
• Peppa Pig Weebles from Character Options

Best Licensed Dress-Up or Partyware Range

• Despicable Me Dress-Up from Rubies
• Disney Frozen Dress-Up from Rubies
• Fisher Price Partyware from Amscan
• Marvel Dress-Up For George@Asda from Christys’
• Tetris Dress-up from Morphcostumes
• Wall’s Partyware from Talking Tables

A Hulk t-shirt from Fabric Flavours, one of sveral superhero-inspired designs. The company also makes Dennis the Menace products.

Best Licensed Pre-school Apparel Range (0-5 years)

• Finding Nemo Swim Range from Matalan
• Guess How Much I Love You Collection for Tu@Sainsbury’s from Paul Dennicci
• Paddington Babywear from Baby Gap
• The Royal Ballet Collection for M&S from Watermelon
• Marvel Spider-Man Preschool Range From Fabric Flavours
• Peppa Pig Tutu Pyjamas for George@Asda from Cooneen By Design

Beano-inspired footwear from Doc Martens

Best Licensed Children or Adult Apparel Range

• Beano Footwear Range from Dr Martens
• The Gruffalo Eyewear from Specsavers
• Lego The Movie Range from TV Mania
• Monster High Essentials for Tesco from Aykroyds/TDP/Roy Lowe
• Peanuts Ladies Wear for ASOS from Knitmania
• Where’s Wally? Flip Flops from Haivaianas

Best Written, Listening or Learning Range

• FIFA World Cup Stickers And Sticker Book from Panini
• Game of Thrones Pop-Up: A Pop-Up Guide to Westeros from Inside Editions
• Great British Bake Off Books from Random House
• The Hungry Caterpillar Arts & Crafts Range from Anker International
• Minecraft Book Range from Egmont
• Peppa Pig Electronic Learning range from KD UK (InspirationWorks)

Best Licensed Paper Products or Stationery Range

• Despicable Me Cards & Calendar Range from Danilo
• Doc McStuffins Stationery Art & Craft Range from Sambro
• Frozen Birthday Cards from Moonpig
• Marvel Stationery Range from Pyramid
• Orla Kiely Stationery from Blueprint Stationery
• Pickle Parade Stationery Range from Carte Blanche Greetings

Best Licensed Giftware Range

• Coca Cola Gift Range from Brand Packaging
• Despicable Me Backpacks from Posh Paws
• Gromit Unleashed Gifts Range from Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal
• Guinness Gift Range from Beams
• Happy Jackson Gift Range from Wild & Wolf
• Peter Rabbit Gift Range from Rainbow Designs

Pyramid Art Deco Spider-Man print

Best Licensed Home Décor, Tableware or Housewares Range

• Great British Bake Off Kitchenware Range from Ethos
• Marvel Art Deco Canvas Range from Pyramid
• Mr. Men & Little Miss Cooking Sets from Creative Tops
• Pantone Universe Range from Whitbread Wilkinson
• Star Wars Kitchenware from Lakeland
• VW Lunchbags from Monster Factory

Best Licensed Food or Drink Range

• Heinz Pastries from Peter’s Food Services
• Jamie Oliver Ready To Eat Pulses from Fiddes Payne
• Mr. Men and Little Miss Biscuits from Biscuiteers
• The Snowman and Snowdog Range from Thorntons
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ‘Shell-ebration’ Cake from Finsbury Foods
• Wahaca Range from Kimm & Miller

Best Licensed Brand Range

• Animal Planet Cycle Safety Equipment from Oxford Products
• Jamie Oliver Kitchenware from Merison Retail
• Lego Adult Watch Collection from Clic Time
• Pizza Express Range from Eddingtons
• Roald Dahl Bedroom Range from Ashley Wilde
• V&A, Garden Of Love Bedroom Range from Bedeck

The Innovation Award

• Downton Abbey Board Game from She Who Dares
• Iron Man Digital Morphsuit from Morph Costumes
• Mickey Mouse Augmented Reality Duvet Set from Character World
• Minnie Mouse Ears for ASOS from Icon
• Peppa Pig Vitamin Gummies from DTP Europe
• Star Wars Homewares from Bluwstuff

Best Licensed Marketing Communication Campaign Award

For this award category, a highly qualified panel of marketing and promotions experts judged the entries to the Best Licensed Marketing Communication 2014 Award to arrive at an impressive finalists line-up, each of which demonstrate strong partnerships forged between licensed properties and key FMCG brands.

• Guinness World Records ‘Largest Shaving Lesson’ with Gillette (P&G) for Movember
• Gromit Unleashed for Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar Giant Wiggle for Action For Children
• Peppa Pig Splashathon for Tommy’s
• Shaun the Sheep’s Pompom Parade Campaign for Wool
• Wallace & Gromit’s Holidays at Home are Great for Visit England

The Retailer Award Finalists

The finalists of the Retailer Award categories were decided as a result of an online nomination process involving 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. These results were then taken into account by a validation panel of industry experts to arrive at the final line-up.

Best Pre-school Retailer of Licensed Products (age group 0-5)

• Argos
• Asda (including George@Asda)
• The Entertainer
• Sainsbury’s (including TU)
• Smyths
• Toys R Us (including Babies R Us)

Best Kids Retailer of Licensed Products (age group 6-16)

• Argos
• Asda (includes George@Asda)
• Next
• Primark
• Smyths
• Tesco

Best Retailer of Adult Licensed Products

• Argos
• ASDA
• Forbidden Planet
• HMV
• John Lewis
• Tesco

The Radar Award

This award is for any UK based retailer (bricks and mortar/or online) that have ‘come on the radar’ by upping their licensing activities in the last year.

• ASOS
• Halfords
• Hobbycraft
• Lakeland
• M&Co (McKays)
• Poundland

Top Retailer Award

All winners of the other categories are contenders for this award.

• The winners will be revealed at The Licensing Awards event on Tuesday September 16th – in The Great Room at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. Tickets are on sale now. Almost 1,400 retailers, licensees, licensees and industry suppliers will attend the event, with hundreds of tickets already bought. More info: www.thelicensingawards.co.uk

• About the Author
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John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

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Categories: downthetubes Comics News, Merchandise, Other Worlds, Star Wars

Tags: Dr Martens, Fabric Flavours, Game of Thrones, George@ASDA, Iron Man, Licensing Awards, Marvel Comics, Peppa Pig, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Beano