Welcome to thePlay Creators Awards 2021

A virtual celebration of the toy and game industry’s design talent, among the big winners in 2020 were Spin Master, Big Potato, Seven Towns and DesignbyTouch, while Heayes Design’s Richard Heayes scooped the Design Icon accolade.

The full line-up of the 2021 nominations can be found below:

2021 Awards Finalists

Toy Designer of the Year Finalists

Whether bringing innovation to an iconic toy brand, or responsible for the industry’s latest big hit, this award celebrates a figure that has done outstanding work in toy design over the last 12 months.

Adam Carson (Fat Brain Toys) – Dimpl Digits (Fat Brain Toys)

Bang Zoom & Fisher-Price Pre-School Product Development Team – B.B. Hoopster (Fisher-Price)

BOTI & Seven Towns – Stuff-a-Loons (BOTI)

Brennan Hunt & Matt Synowicz (TOMY) – Club Mocchi Mocchi (TOMY)

Doug Taylor (Fuse) – Micro Machines World Super Van City Playset (Jazwares)

IDEO – WeWearCute Inkfluencer Click N Color Marker Set (Spin Master)

Kindi Kids Team (Moose Toys) – Kindi Kids (Moose Toys)

Peter Williams & Robert Schwartzman (Pace Development) – Hot Wheels Action Rollout Raceway Track Playset (Mattel)

Sahad Rivera Sonda (Educational Insights) – Bolt Buddies Home Town Heroes (Educational Insights)

Q&Q Japan – Peek-a-Roo (Spin Master)

Game Designer of the Year (Kids Games) Finalists

This award is for designers behind the best and brightest in the world of kids’ games. Fun, silly, educational, or all of the above, we’re looking to celebrate the brains behind the games.

Bang Zoom – Crossed Signals (Mattel)

Carterbench – Monopoly: Crooked Cash (Hasbro)

Geoff House (Tricky) & Simon Skelton and Ruth Elliott (Big Ideas) – Hide ‘N Cheek (Big G Creative)

Jack Andrews & Students of Simon Balle School – Active Snap (TOMY)

JM Duparc & Identity Games Design Team – Escape Room The Game: Puzzle Adventures (Identity Games)

Kenn Morton (KidKenn) – Foosketball (Hasbro)

Mary Jo Reutter (You-Betcha Interactive) – Dice of Fury (Educational Insights)

Open 2 Design & TOMY – Ahoy There! (TOMY)

Game Designer of the Year (Party Games) Finalists

Be a twist on trivia that brings families together, or a hidden role game that turns friends into enemies, the party game sector is booming, and this category celebrates the designers helping to make a night in the new night out.

Andrew Lawson & Jack Lawson – Ka-Blab! (Hasbro)

Courtney Wood, Matt Ludlow & Roberto Rotaru (Bubblegum Stuff) – Plant-Based Riot (Bubblegum Stuff)

Danielle Angel, James Smith, Kat Press & Rich Walton (Professor Puzzle) – Rainbow Go (Professor Puzzle)

Geoff House (Tricky) & Simon Skelton and Ruth Elliott (Big Ideas) – Cluckle (Big G Creative)

Geoff House (Tricky) & Mark Daniels (Sublevel Studios) – Fill Your Pants (TOMY)

Jeremy Posner & Ken Gruhl – Bunch of Butts (Under Where Games)

Open 2 Design – Play Your Number (Ginger Fox)

Phil Walker-Harding – Snakesss (Big Potato)

R&D Team of the Year Finalists

In-house creative team at a toy titan, or leading design at a thriving SME, this award celebrates teams working in Research & Development that have achieved extraordinary things over the last year.

BlueJ powered by Jazwares 

Bubblegum Stuff

Character Options

 Hasbro 

Professor Puzzle 

Mattel

Spin Master

The Last Gameboard 

TOMY

Invention Studio/Design Agency of the Year Finalists

The secret weapon for many toy firms, design agencies and invention studios are the unsung heroes of our industry. This category celebrates a firm that deserves recognition for exceptional work over the last 12 months.

Bang Zoom

DesignbyTouch 

Design Edge

Fuse

JMP Creative 

Making Things

Open 2 Design

Seven Towns

Streamline Design

Tricky

Toy Designer of the Year (Licensed Product) Finalists

The first of two awards recognising excellence in licensed product, Toy Designer of the Year (Licensed Product) celebrates creators that have brought much loved characters and IP to life through great toys.

Anderson Ward Grubb & Ioana Popescu (LEGO) – LEGO The Friends Apartment (LEGO)

BOTI, Eolo Toys and Fuse – Marvel Battle Cubes (BOTI/Eolo Toys)

Goo Jit Zu Team (Moose Toys) & Jon Elliott (Character Options) – Marvel Heroes of Goo Jit Zu (Character Options/Moose Toys)

Hasbro SPARK R&D Team – Star Wars The Child: Animatronic Edition (Hasbro)

Fuse & Fisher-Price Imaginext Development Team – Imaginext DC Super Friends Bat-Tech BatBot (Fisher-Price)

Fuse – Mega Batman Playset (Spin Master)

Matt Bland, Matt Jordan & Tom Yamazaki (TOMY) – Toomies Jurassic World (TOMY)

Game Designer of the Year (Licensed Product) Finalists

This award is for a designer that has brought an IP to the tabletop in impressive style via an impressive licensed game this year.

Eric Lang – Disney Sidekicks (Spin Master)

Nextoy – Spirit Stackin’ Apples (Mattel)

Open 2 Design – Top Gear: Fastest Lap (Ginger Fox)

Prospero Hall – Fast & Furious: Highway Heist (Funko Games)

Richard Heayes – Knight Rider: KITT Vs KARR (Cartamundi)

Ryan Miller – The Princess Bride Adventure Book Game (Ravensburger)

Scott Rogers – Alien: Fate of the Nostromo (Ravensburger)

Play Innovator of the Year Finalists

Whether it’s via AI, Robotics, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality or voice tech, the Play Innovation of the Year award celebrates designers driving innovation in the toy and game space through the integration of the latest and greatest tech.

Ben Gray (Mime Industries) & Ric Scott (Educational Insights) – Artie Max (Educational Insights)

Don Ullman & Jose Leal – Drone Home (PlayMonster)

Emma Peat (Spin Master) – Orbeeze #Challenge (Spin Master)

The Marketing Store – Paper Only Happy Meals Program (McDonald’s)

Mark Rober – Colour the Spectrum Initiative

Johannes Sich – MicroMacro: Crime City (Edition Spielwiese)

Robert Victor (Kite & Rocket) – Nerf Fortnite RL Blaster (Hasbro)

Shail Mehta – Gameboard (The Last Gameboard)

Rising Star Award Finalists

Who are the design legends of the future? Perhaps someone leading design at one of the industry’s many exciting start-ups, or a young star within your R&D team? If so, nominate them in the Rising Star category.

Adam Carson (Fat Brain Toys)

Anna & Anton Ten (Papaton Kids)

Assaf Eshet (Toyish Labs)

Brian Thornber (Lemon Lime Toys & Games)

Josh Addyman (Seven Towns)

Kat Press (Professor Puzzle)

Lorena Montalvo (TOMY)

Sam Price (Fuse London)

Shail Mehta (The Last Gameboard)

Will Anderson (Inventor)

Inventor Relations Exec of the Year

This Award celebrates figures working in Inventor Relations that have excelled over the past 12 months. Whether it’s due to commendable conduct with the inventor community or for being instrumental in finding and championing successful inventor items, this is a category to highlight the phenomenal work being done by individuals working in IR.

Adam Hocherman (PlayMonster)

Brent Geppert (Educational Insights)

David Winter (Jazwares)

Dominique Roy (Make it Real)

Erik Quam (Fat Brain Toys)

Harrie Sivanander (Spin Master)

Heath Saber (Moose Toys)

Jenn Brees (Hasbro)

Sarah Franco (Mattel)

Tanya Thompson (Hasbro)

TinkerTini – led by Trina McFarland with Kate Soanes and Amanda Melendez (TinkerTini)

Design Icon Award

This award celebrates iconic figures that have helped shape the industry, truly leaving their footprint in the world of toy and game design.

2019 Awards Winners Pictures

(2020 was a virtual event due to the Covid-19 Pandemic)

TOY DESIGNER OF THE YEAR Sponsored by Si Digital

Toy Designer of the Year, Play Creators Awards, Moose Toys UK

WINNER: Moose Toys UK – Scruff-a-Luvs (Moose Toys UK)
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GAME DESIGNER OF THE YEAR (KIDS GAMES) Sponsored by Cartamundi

WINNER: Don Ullman, Bob Driscoll & Rob Daviau, Bank Attack (Megableu)
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GAME DESIGNER OF THE YEAR (TABLETOP)

WINNER: Elizabeth Hargrave – Wingspan (Stonemaier Games)
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R&D TEAM OF THE YEAR Sponsored by Wynne-Jones IP

WINNER: Spin Master
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DESIGN AGENCY/INVENTION STUDIO OF THE YEAR Sponsored by Hasbro

WINNER: So Sound
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TOY DESIGNER OF THE YEAR (LICENSED) Sponsored by The Toy Association

WINNER: Mike Wyatt & Matthew Wright – RNLI Inshore Lifeboat Play Set (Playpress Toys/RNLI)
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GAME DESIGNER OF THE YEAR (LICENSED PRODUCT) Sponsored by Sambro

WINNER: Open 2 Design – Rubik’s Cage (University Games/Rubik’s)
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PLAY INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR Sponsored by The Toy Association

WINNER: Fuse London Ltd & Briology – Cool Maker KumiKreator (Spin Master)
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RISING STAR AWARD Sponsored by Alpha Group

WINNER: Ben Williams – Open 2 Design

DESIGN ICON AWARD Sponsored by Batman

WINNER: Alpesh Patel – VP of Global Toy Design, TOMY

2021 Event Partners

Check out who makes this event possible!

Award Partner

Tickets

The 2021 Play Creators Awards are virtual due to the global COVID pandemic, therefore you will not be required to purchase a ticket. Instead the winners will be announced via a dedicated newsletter or Monday, September 6th.

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