Play Creators Awards 2020 winners revealed

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

The full line-up of winners can be found below:

Awards Finalists and Winners

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.

Chantal Drenthe & Paul Martinsen (Fuse London) & Moose Toys – Oh My Gif (Moose Toys)

Big Monster Toys & Alpha Group’s Eric Dong & Glenn Yu – RC TerraTrax (Alpha Group)

LEGO – LEGO Dots Range (LEGO)

Moose Toys & Character Options – Heroes of Goo Jit Zu (Moose Toys/Character Options)

PlayMonster – Snap Ships (PlayMonster)

WINNER: Seven Towns – Junk Bots (Hexbug)

Fisher-Price & Open 2 Design – Little People Wheelies Raceway (Fisher-Price)

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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.

Adam Borton (Creating Unique Toys) & Jeremy Posner (Shenanigans Toys and Games) – Silly Seal (Entertoyment)

Big Monster Toys – Sky Score (Hasbro)

WINNER: The Fantastic Factory – Trapped (Golden Bear)

Gary Pyper (Fun-Damental) – Windy Knickers (John Adams)

Heather Yates (Orchard Toys) – Mammoth Maths (Orchard Toys)

Nextoy – Puglicious (Mattel)

Nir Doron & Gilad Podgor – Slam Cup (Blue Orange Games)

Simon Toms (Spring Loaded Concepts) & Fuse London – Seasick Sam (Drumond/TOMY UK)

TOMY – Screwball Scramble Level 2 (TOMY)

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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.

Alex Hague, Justin Vickers & Wolfgang Warsch – Wavelength (Palm Court)

Ceri Price & Natalie Podd – Confident (Confident Games)

Chris Naylor & Rich Walton – Think Fast! (Ridley’s Games)

WINNER: Dan Penn & Rich Coombes – Herd Mentality (Big Potato Games)

Identity Games – Nightmare Horror Adventures: Welcome to Crafton Mansion (Identity Games)

Oleksandr Nevskiy – Detective Club (IGames)

Peggy Brown – Bye Felicia! (Big G Creative)

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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.

WINNER: Big Potato Games

Gibsons

Hasbro

Orchard Toys

PlayMonster

Ridley’s Games

Spin Master

Tactic Games

TOMY

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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

Big Monster Toys

WINNER: DesignbyTouch

The Fantastic Factory

Fun-Damental

Fuse London

Open 2 Design

Seven Towns

So Sound

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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.

Winner: Big Monster Toys – Paw Patrol Split Second 2-in-1 Vehicles (Spin Master)

Denny Wong (Posh Paws) – Love Hearts Plush Range (Posh Paws)

Dominic Yard (YARD) – Little People DC Super Friends 2-in-1 Batmobile (Fisher-Price)

Eric Dong & Glenn Yu – Subway Surfers Spray Crew (Alpha Group)

LEGO – LEGO Super Mario Range (LEGO)

Matt Bland and Matthew Jordan (TOMY) – Ricky Zoom Range (TOMY)

Open 2 Design – Peppa Pig Mud Kitchen (Character Options)

Paul Martinsen (Fuse London) – Batman Mega Gear Action Figures (Spin Master)

Gil Zalayet (StudioPlay) & Ryan Kratz (Sound Machine) – Rapid Change Utility Belt Batman (Spin Master)

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.

Andrea Chiarvesio & Eric Lang – Marvel United (Spin Master/CMON)

Anthony Boydell for TfL Race the Rails

Barry McLaughlin & Jason Lautenschleger – Anchorman The Game: Improper Teleprompter (Barry & Jason Games)

Winner: Daryl Andrews & Adrian Adamescu – Titanic: The Game (Spin Master)

James Vaughn (Big Potato) – Top of the Pops: The Game (Big Potato)

Prospero Hall – Horrified (Ravensburger)

Richard Heayes (Heayes Design) – Disney Race Home & Home Sprint Ranges (Cartamundi)

Sam Roberts (So Sound) – Race to the Triwizard Tournament (Cartamundi)

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.

Winner: Audrey Tam (Spin Master) – CoolMaker Hollywood Hair (Spin Master)

Brian Whitehead (Briology Ltd) & Fuse London – Easy Knit (Character Options)

David Emblin (Moose Toys) – Team Gem (Moose Toys)

Emma Peat (Spin Master) – Go Glam Nail Salon 2.0 (Spin Master)

The Fantastic Factory – Trapped (Golden Bear)

LEGO – LEGO Art Range (LEGO)

Melbot – Melbits POD (Melbot)

Phil Sage, Scott Clarke, Mel Hershey, James Brown, Steve Caterson, Spencer Roberts, Fred Hopke and Colleen Dolan (Hasbro) – D-O Interactive Droid (Hasbro)

TOMY – Rizmo (TOMY)

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.

Chantal Drenthe – Fuse London

Winner: Elif Atmaca & Ögeday Uçurum – Toyi

James Vaughn – Big Potato Games

Jacques Priestner – Seven Towns

Jason Loik – Loik Studios

Jessica Livingston – GUND/Spin Master

Ollie Hobbs – So Sound

Sam Roberts – So Sound

Steve Moore – Tantrum Innovation

Ross Monks – Moose Toys UK

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.

WINNER: Richard Heayes – Heayes Design/PlayLenz
“The call I received from Billy to say I’d won the Mojo Design Icon award was to say the least a massive surprise,” said Richard Heayes, Founder of Heayes Design.

“To know that it’s because your peers have voted for you is a real honour. When I left Hasbro and set up on my own nearly 7 years ago, I realised I had the same amount of years ahead of me as I had already worked in my life. It was an opportunity to stay in a business I loved but also mix things up a bit.

“I’ve loved connecting with new people in and out of the business and to share my know how with young designers just starting out. I’ve been lucky to work with some amazing people over the years and I still count many of them as friends.

“This business is creativity tough. We are competing with thousands of new products every year and margins can be tight. But there is always positive energy to be found. The endless creativity on show I think raises us all to be better at what we do and to realise that to bring fun and happiness to the world we need to live by those principles as a collective.

“Play is being taken more seriously than ever. We know that as a child, it helps shape who you will become, and children who don’t get the time to play suffer as adults. It’s great then to see adults coming back to play as way to connect with friends through gaming and to find some chill out time with things like puzzles and LEGO.

“The products we create are not utility; they can leave lasting positive impressions and can create bonds between children and adults who can role-play their interest in shared stories. Story telling has become a critical component in our toolbox as the platforms for sharing stories have increased far beyond the three TV channels, the weekly comic and the odd movie I had as a child.

“This ‘toy story’, the one I started 30 years ago, has had lots of characters, some unforeseen plot twists and some great locations from LA to Hong Kong. I’ve just paused and notice I have a good 20 plus years left; better get the snacks in!”