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.

We caught up with Hargrave to learn more about where the idea for Wingspan came from and what the industry can do to better champion female game designers.

Accountant Oliver Leck came to our Mojo Pitch event last September armed with his first ever game, Numbalee. After a successful day of meetings, he signed a global deal with Entertoyment. We caught up with Leck to find out more.

Despite its product not being on shelves, as the company responsible for creating McDonald’s’ Happy Meal toys, The Marketing Store is the world’s largest manufacturer of toys. We caught up with Ben Poate, the firm’s Vice President of Sustainability and Innovation, to find out how the team stays the creative when coming up with over 300 toy designs every year

Whether the in-house 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.

“With connected play on track to increase nearly 200% in less than four years, combined with the exponential growth across augmented reality, voice and robotics, we will see more connected ways for kids and families to play, learn and genuinely have fun together,” said TechUp’s Valerie Vacante.

“We are developing a game that will deeply resonate with Die Hard enthusiasts, incorporating even the slightest details to create a rich and entertaining experience that properly pays tribute to arguably the greatest action movie of all time,” said USAopoly’s Pat Marino.

Nominations are now open for the Play Creators Awards, taking place at the 2019 Play Creators Festival.

Celebrating the opening night of DISTOY, we’ll be uniting the toy and game industry on Tuesday, May 28th for a night of networking, boozing and quizzing at London’s Jerusalem Bar.

The grown-up games night will celebrate with a menu of Board Game Club favourites from the past five years as well as some newer titles.