Expert jury nominates innovations for Spielwarenmesse ToyAward

• Digital ToyAward Special Area with all nominees
• Winners to be announced on Spielwarenmesse Digital on 2 February

Outstanding product innovations are among the drivers of sales in the trade. The Spielwarenmesse ToyAward offers buyers important guidance in range selection. Every year, the awards recognise innovations that, on account of their especially creative product ideas and high quality of manufacture, have great potential for success. The ToyAward, one of the most important prizes in the global toy industry, is also a key indicator of quality for consumers.

The competition for the highly regarded prize was open to all exhibitors at the Spielwarenmesse. The innovations that they submitted have undergone an initial digital preselection process. Here, an expert jury has evaluated all applications on the criteria of originality, play fun, comprehensibility of the product concept and prospect of retail success, and narrowed down the selection. At a meeting in Nuremberg, members of the jury each nominated three products in the new Sustainability segment and in the categories PreSchool (3-6 years), SchoolKids (6-10 years), Teenagers & Adults (10 years upwards) and Startup. There were no nominees this year in the Baby & Infant (0-3 years) category. In addition to the requirements from the preselection, further criteria of safety and workmanship & quality were taken into account in this evaluation.

The winners will be announced as part of the Digital Opening, which will be streamed on Spielwarenmesse Digital from 9 am on 2 February. All of the nominated innovations can be found on the new platform, in the digital ToyAward Special Area.

The nominees for the ToyAward 2022

PreSchool (3-6 years)

• Emergency Doctor’s Backpack / Legler (Germany)
• Maxi Barbecue Mud Kitchen / İnci Okul ve Ofis Mobilyalari (Turkey)
• PlanWorld: Rubber Road & Rail / Plan Creations (Thailand)

SchoolKids (6-10 years)

• BRIO Shuffleshot / BRIO (Sweden)
• Climate Change – Understanding Global Warming / Tree Toys Corporation (Taiwan)
• Fabulus Elexus / Hutter Trade GmbH & Co. KG & DUJARDIN (Germany)

Teenager & Adults (10 years and older)

• echoes – The Audio Mystery Game / Ravensburger Verlag (Germany)
• LEGO Bouquet / LEGO (Denmark)
• Pixicade / BOTI (The Netherlands)

Startup

• Cody Block / QUBS (Switzerland)
• KNOP KNOP – soft felt building kit / SIA GOOD MAKE (Latvia)
• Piks / OPPI (France)

Sustainability

• Animal Friends / Fischertechnik (Germany)
• La Colmena / Cocoletes (Spain)
• Organic Cotton Bunny DouDou / Apunt Barcelona (Spain)

ToyAward Jury 2022

The 13 members of the international jury are drawn from the fields of market research, retail, education and toy safety.

• Axel Dammler, iconkids & youth, Managing Director
• Andrew Dobbie, Gameplan Europe, Managing Director
• Konstantin Frishberg, Detsky Mir, Director Toys and Games Department
• Dr. Harald Käb, naracon Innovationsberatung, Owner
• Jörg Meister, little big things, Managing Director
• Thorsten Paedelt, duo schreib & spiel, Managing Director
• Andreas Schäfer, idee + spiel, Managing Director
• Dean Smith, jaZams, Co-owner
• Sue Warfield, ASTRA, President
• Rainer Weiskirchen, TÜV Rheinland, Press Officer
• Thomas Wodzicki, Freelance play educationalist for various institutions in Germany and abroad
• Tracy Wood, Toybuzz, Managing Director
• Jean Youn, Kakaokids, Head of Toy Business

The website www.toyaward.com contains further information about the ToyAwards, the jury and the winners of recent years.