Play Creators Awards 2023 winners revealed

A celebration of the industry’s design and inventor talent, among the winners this year are Fuse, Moose Toys and Jazwares’ David Winter.

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

TOY DESIGNER OF THE YEAR – Sponsored by: Jazwares
This award celebrates a figure or team responsible for creating one of the year’s best toys.

• Dominic Yard – Tech Deck Ultimate Roadie Skatepark (Spin Master)
• Fuse & Hot Wheels Design Team – Hot Wheels City Ultimate Robo T-Rex Hauler (Mattel)
• Lauren Johnson & Shane Rogers (MindWare) – Gearjits Gumball Marble Coaster (MindWare)
• Lorena Montalvo and Olivia DeLuca (TOMY) – Bebé Fuerte (TOMY)
• Make It Real Advanced Design Team – Mini-Pottery Wheel Studio (Make It Real)
• Making Things Studio – Mouse in the House (Character Options)
• Moose Toys Design Team – Cookeez Makery (Moose Toys)
• WINNER: Moose Toys Design Team – Magic Mixies Magic Lamp (Moose Toys)
• Seven Towns – Pocket Money Piggies (BOTI)

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GAME DESIGNER OF THE YEAR (Kids/Family Game) – Sponsored by: Playtime PR
Here we celebrate the brains behind the games that kept kids glued to the tabletop this past year.

• Big Ideas, Tricky & Sublevel Studios – Wibble Wobble Where? (Fuel For Fun/Flair)
• Guido Hoffmann & Jens-Peter Schliemann – Piazza Rabazza (Zoch)
• Just Playing Games – Clue: Escape & Solve Mystery Series (Hasbro)
• KID Group – Freefall (ThinkFun)
• WINNER: Kim Vandenbroucke – Pigs on Trampolines (PlayMonster)
• Mark Langley – Decypher (The Happy Puzzle Company)
• Tara Taehyun Kim (Mattel) – Magic 8 Ball Magic Encounters (Mattel)
• The Fantastic Factory & Making Things Studio – Easy Peasy Lemon Squeaky (Flair)
• TOMY Global R&D – Screwball Scramble: Level Up (TOMY)

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GAME DESIGNER OF THE YEAR (Party Game) – Sponsored by: Board Game Club
As the party game sector continues to thrive, this category champions the designers behind the year’s best examples of the genre.

• Barry McLaughlin & Jason Lautenschleger – Okay Genius (PlayMonster)
• Big Potato Games – Cards Vs Gravity (Big Potato Games)
• Ceri Price & Natalie Podd – Tug (Confident Games)
• Hunch Studios – Tell Me Without Telling Me (Spin Master)
• John D. Clair – Ready Set Bet (AEG)
• Josie North & Karen North – Hit Send (Hot House Games)
• Karli C. Skelton – Draw It, See It, Say It (Ridley’s Games)
• WINNER: Kazunari Yonemitsu, TOMY R&D & TOMY Global R&D – The Game of Saying Huh? (TOMY)
• Prospero Hall – Nuck Tats (Funko Games)

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R&D TEAM OF THE YEAR – Sponsored by: Toy Association
This award celebrates teams working in Research & Development that have achieved extraordinary things over the past year.

• Big Potato Games
• Eolo Toys
• Golden Bear
• Hasbro SPARK R&D
• Hot Wheels Skate Team
• Make It Real Design Team
• WINNER: Moose Toys
• Prospero Hall (Funko Games)
• Spin Master
• TOMY

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INVENTION STUDIO/ DESIGN AGENCY OF THE YEAR – Sponsored by: Hasbro
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
• Fun-damental Invention
• Winner: Fuse
• Just Playing Games
• Making Things Studio
• Open 2 Design
• So Sound
• Tantrum Innovation
• ToyZone
• Triclops Studio

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TOY DESIGNER OF THE YEAR (Licensed Product) – Sponsored by: design_lead_play_
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.

• Bang Zoom – Dancing Bluey (Moose Toys)
• Bill Miekina (Mattel) – WWE Elite Series (Mattel)
• Gurdeep Bains (YuMe Toys) – Disney 100 Surprise Capsules (YuMe Toys)
• Mattel’s Jurassic World Action Figures Design Team – Jurassic World Dominion Action Figures (Mattel)
• Moose Toys Design Team – Bluey Ultimate Lights & Sounds Playhouse (Moose Toys)
• Paper Engine R&D Team – Build Your Own Wallace & Gromit Rocket (Paper Engine)
• WINNER: Tantrum Innovation – TMNT Mutant Mayhem Ninja Kick Cycle (Playmates Toys)
• TOMY R&D & Fat Brain Toys – Toomies Peppa’s Activity House (TOMY)
• Wow! Stuff – Nano Pods (Wow! Stuff)

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GAME DESIGNER OF THE YEAR (Licensed Product) – Sponsored by: Wynne-Jones IP
This award is for a designer or team that has brought an IP to the tabletop in impressive style this year.

• Big Potato Games & Aardman – Obey the Clay (Big Potato Games)
• Christian Fiore & Knut Happel – Minecraft: Heroes of the Village (Ravensburger)
• Erica Bouyouris (Spin Master) – Dumb Ways to Die (Spin Master)
• Jay Little, Ryan Miller & Marcus Ross – The Lord of the Rings Adventure Book Game (Ravensburger)
• Kristian Karlberg & Kenny Zetterberg – Dungeons and Dragons & The Yawning Portal (Hasbro)
• Lauren Wallace (Ridley’s Games) – Marvel Selfish (Ridley’s Games)
• Prospero Hall – Disney Animated (Funko Games)
• WINNER: Prospero Hall – Scream: The Game (Funko Games)
• Prospero Hall – Star Trek: Cryptic (Funko Games)

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OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
This special award – a surprise category unveiled on the night – recognises someone’s extensive impact and enduring creative contribution to the industry,

• WINNER: Christine Nicholls, Golden Bear

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PLAY INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR – Sponsored by: ToyZone
Whether through fresh thinking or tech twists, the Play Innovator of the Year award celebrates those driving innovation in the toy and game space.

• Catapult Concepts – Puzl It (Hasbro)
• Fuse – 10 Bone Bowling (Big Potato Games)
• Jordan Goddard (Indy Toy Lab) – The Night Hunter (University Games)
• Karen Harel, Kevin Voorhees, Kurtis Wong, Bari Cohen, Ty Eason (Spin Master) – Rubik’s Phantom (Spin Master)
• WINNER: Moose Toys Design Team – Mama Surprise (Moose Toys)
• Moose Toys Design Team – My Puppy’s Home (Moose Toys)
• Heather Weeks & Ric Scott (Educational Insights) – PYXEL: A Coder’s Best Friend (Educational Insights)
• Tantrum Innovation – Mystery Key Treasure Challenge (Goliath)
• Wilder Toys – The Audio Game (Wilder Toys)

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RISING STAR AWARD – Sponsored by: Ridley’s Games
This category celebrates the inventor stars and design legends of the future.

• Annabelle Hillard – Seven Towns
• Ben Powell – So Sound
• Emma Costa Lascelles – TOMY
• Jordan Goddard & Mandy Goddard – Indy Toy Lab
• Liat Waks, Naama Weiss & Uri Steingold – Inventors of Spin Master’s Games HQ
• Olivia DeLuca – TOMY
• Phoebe Mason – PlayMonster UK
• WINNER: Sophie Lazenby – Fuse
• Tom McKendrick – Crated With Love

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INVENTOR RELATION EXEC OF THE YEAR – Sponsored by: Toy Association
This Award celebrates figures working in Inventor Relations that have excelled over the past 12 months.

• WINNER: Adam Hocherman – Fat Brain Toys
• Alex Prieto – Eolo Toys/ToyZone
• Allison Gabbey – Fisher-Price
• Angus Walker – Hasbro
• Daryl Andrews – Maestro Media
• David Winter – BlueJ/Jazwares
• Heath Saber – Moose Toys
• Josh West – ThinkFun
• Lee Allentuck – Melissa & Doug/The Last Gameboard/Blue Marble
• Rich Mazel – Spin Master

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UNSUNG HERO
A model making superstar? An organisational whizz? A secret weapon within your IR team? This award sings the praises of those who maybe don’t always get the credit they deserve.

• Celyn Mitchell – Form Design
• Eleanor Black – Fuse
• Em Dobson – Big Potato Games
• Gurdeep Bains – YuMe Toys
• Harriet Steeds – Ridley’s Games
• WINNER: Jazmine Sines – So Sound
• Jeff Arnold – Sponge Creative
• Jodie Broaders – Fuse
• Sardiaa Leney – Hasbro

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ARTIST OF THE YEAR
This award celebrates in-house graphic designers, illustrators and art directors – as well as external talent – that have done phenomenal work in our industry across the past 12 months.

• Amanda Jenson – MindWare
• Amy Atkins – So Sound
• WINNER: Austyn Romero – Ridley’s Games
• Barbara Perez – ToyZone
• Dustin Foust – Indy Toy Lab
• Elin Nystrom – So Sound
• Robin Sowden Garcia – Big Potato Games
• Tristam Rossin – Bright Light Games
• Vincent Dutrait – Freelance Illustrator

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ICON – Sponsored by: Moose Toys
This award celebrates iconic figures at the top of their game who have helped shape the industry, truly leaving their footprint in the world of design and invention.

WINNER: David Winter (Jazwares)

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