Winner 2022
PreSchool
SchoolKids
Teenager & Adults
Startup
Sustainability
PreSchool
WINNER
Emergency Doctor‘s Backpack
Legler’s Emergency Doctor’s Backpack is a very authentic, modern interpretation of the classic doctor’s kit for kids. The quality backpack holds everything from a dressing and a stethoscope to a blood pressure gauge and even a miniature defibrillator. Teddy had an accident? Help is here! The little aspiring doctors will find everything they need to playfully simulate an emergency first response. Next to its contemporary execution, the jury positively noted the pleasant feel of the utensils which have largely been made from soft wood.
NOMINEE
PlanWorld: Rubber Road & Rail
The Rubber Road & Rail Set by PlanToys presents itself as a very versatile toy. One side of the two-sided tracks can be used to create a railroad track, while the reverse is a road for cars. All tracks are made of very flexible rubber to prevent the child from injuring itself. Cars, trucks and trains are made from soft wood painted in cheerful soft pastels that completely enchanted the jury.
NOMINEE
Maxi Barbecue Mud Kitchen
Outdoor kitchens are trending right now. So it’s no surprise that mini chefs are creating stylish dishes for their guests outdoors! The Maxi Barbecue Mud Kitchen by Inci Okul ve Ofis Mobilyari is a mobile unit combining a stove, oven and a barbecue. The large wheels make it easy to manoeuvre while ensuring a steady position even on uneven terrain. Lovingly designed details include small boxes for storing kitchen helpers and a range of pretend food for kids to spice up their dishes.
SchoolKids
WINNER
Fabulus Elexus
Hutter Trade GmbH & Co. KG & DUJARDIN magically encases the mysteries of chemistry in its Fabulus Elexus science set. The Magical Book of Elixirs shows young magicians how to create potions called, for example, Eternal Poison, Fart of a Fairy or Poisoned Lava Beads. The names of the tinctures required to create the potions have equally illustrious names like Snail Slime and Elves Blood. Before you start, all vials are labelled and named. That is how children learn about the composition and effect of the ingredients. Protective goggles are a must before creating a first magic potion with the stylised cauldrons! The jury especially praised the game’s great fun factor and enthusiastic approach to a topic such as chemistry.
NOMINEE
BRIO Shuffleshot
Set up in no time, BRIO’s Shuffleshot promises to be a fun experience for the entire family. The shuffleboard has a compact size, making it easy to play either on a tabletop or on the floor. The goal of this fast game is to shuffle the slightly magnetic pucks by hand across the board for them to land as closely as possible in the board’s centre. But beware: Your opponent’s pucks can easily knock your puck aside!
NOMINEE
Climate Change – Understanding Global Warming
Understanding our environment: The Climate Change – Understanding Global Warming science kit from Tree Toys Corporation simulates a closed environment which allows children to experience the interaction between climate phenomena and their impact on nature firsthand. Kids start off with building their world by placing glaciers, creating a desert and growing fertile areas. Then they learn with the help of scientific experiments how the ocean’s currents flow, how crops can enhance the climate, and why rain can turn acidic.
Teenager & Adult
WINNER
echoes – Das Audio Mystery Spiel
Why does the ghost of a Dancer haunt a Scottish country manor? And what dreadful secret does the Microchip carry? Mysterious cases like these are to be solved in the echoes mystery game from Ravensburger. A brief story plus illustrated cards as well as audio sequences offer clues – because echoes is a real audio mystery! The cards are scanned with the help of an app to trigger an audio clue. Players slip into the role of an investigator and try to solve how and in which order they each need to lay out three cards to recreate the sequence of events. The jury praised the contemporary audio game which is a perfect match for today’s podcast era. The acoustic clues also build concentration.
NOMINEE
Pixicade
Draw and create your own video game! Pixicade by BOTI makes it possible! Young game developers draw their story onto one of the templates. The colours are coded: Figures are green, obstacles red, and finish lines are blue. A photo of the finished scenario is then uploaded via the app and in no time, the personalised game can be shared and played with friends.
NOMINEE
Lego® Bouquet
Flowers that last forever: The richly detailed Lego Bouquet set by LEGO allows DIY florists to create a life-size bouquet of personalised florals. The jury especially praised that it is good and easy to implement and that it is perfectly geared towards its intended adult target group. A flower arrangement that will add a lasting decorative touch to any room!
StartUp
WINNER
Piks
OPPI® has rethought the world of building blocks and playroom builders: Piks is a set made from wooden elements and small cone-shaped blocks of non-toxic silicone. The colour of the cone dictates its height. The different height of the cones makes building a challenge as the rounded tips shift the balance. Whether pursuing a personal creation or following the instructions from one of the many creative cards: Piks trains a child’s fine motor skills and builds concentration all in one. The creative cards show how to create a snail, giraffe or Mount Everest and are colour-coded to mark the degree of difficulty. The jury was especially won over by the considerable learning experience the game offers in terms of shapes and concentration.
NOMINEE
Cody Block
In the category of startups, QUBS won over the jury with the Montessori-inspired Cody Block set made of wood. Cody Block is suitable for children aged 3years+ and teaches them computational thinking through tactile screen-free play. RFID chips built into the blocks will steer Cody where the children want him to go. The individual directions are shown on the blocks. After building a city using the blocks, Cody the car will automatically drive through the roads.
NOMINEE
KNOP KNOP – soft felt building kit
SIA GOOD MAKE presents an innovative soft felt building kit, the KNOP KNOP. Children aged 3yrs+ quickly learn how to use the two-coloured system that uses snap buttons to build either a plane, a caterpillar or a sheep with the help of instructions. The jury especially enjoyed the beautiful tactile quality, the pretty colours and the sustainability of the material as well as the smart solution for attaching the parts.
Sustainability
WINNER
Animal Friends
With Animal Friends, fischertechnik launches a construction set made from sustainable materials using 60% renewable raw materials. The set lets children build different animals, like Sandy the scorpion, Henry the horse or Larry the lizard, which are extremely robust yet flexible. The chosen animals aim to emphasise a closeness to nature. The abstract, bright colours of the designs are a striking feature. The jury specifically highlighted that a renowned brand manufacturer is moving towards sustainability, thus sending an important sign to the industry.
NOMINEE
Organic Cotton Bunny DouDou
A cute little bunny made from very high-quality, extremely soft organic cotton has been brought to market by Apunt with its Organic Cotton Bunny DouDou. The jury rated the filling made from biologically degradable polyester obtained from corn fibre, as extremely sustainable. Also worth mentioning is the reduced packaging and the quality of the OEKO-TEX-certified dyes.
NOMINEE
La Colmena
Sustainability, a love of nature and respect for the environment are revealed with this multi-layer La Colmena (beehive in Spanish) floor puzzle by Cocolotes. The first layer of the puzzle comprised of different types of wood shows the beehive while the second layer reveals a bee inside a hive. The sustainable material and its appealing tactile quality plus its visually high-grade production are winning factors of this wooden puzzle.
Jury 2022
Sue Warfield has been in the both the Retail and Toy Business for over 30 years. She had been an American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA) Member since 2001 having had her own sales representative group as well as a retail store. She served for 7 years on the ASTRA Board of Directors including as chair of the board. In 2014 she joined the ASTRA staff as Membership Director. In 2020, she took on the position of President.
Axel Dammler is Managing Director of iconkids & youth international research GmbH in Munich, Germany’s largest research institute specialised in kids and youth research. He has been working with young target groups since 1992 and has carried out numerous studies in national and international consumer and media markets.
As founder of the British consulting company Gameplan Europe, Andrew Dobbie advises and publishes throughout the world on the consumer behaviour of children and products and markets for children and young people. As former European Marketing Director of Mattel Toys Inc, Andrew Dobbie has an extensive knowledge and many years of experience in the international toy industry.
Since the beginning of 2016, Konstantin Frishberg is the Director of the Toys and Games Department at Detsky Mir. Detsky Mir is the biggest children’s goods retailer in Eastern Europe with more than 600 stores in Russia and Kazakhstan.
Thorsten Paedelt works for duo schreib & spiel since 2001 and became Managing Director for Marketing and Sales in 2002. The retail trade co-operation from Berlin covers 460 toy shops in Germany and Austria. The range extends from stationery and toys to products from the creative and lifestyle segments.
Jörg Meister studied product design at the FH Coburg. In 2010, after working for five years as an industrial designer for a globally operating company for baby hardware and toys, he joined forces with Eva Stemmer to set up the service agency for product design, consulting and PR with a focus on children’s products.
Dean Smith is the co-owner of jaZams toy & book stores. jaZams has been in business for 22 years and has been rated as one of the 25 best toy stores in America. Before becoming part of the jaZamily Dean was an organic farmer.
Since October 2011, Andreas Schäfer is the managing director at idee+spiel, one of the most successful toy trade co-operations for leisure, hobbies and games. Mr. Schäfer is a trained retail salesman. After working for an EDP-equipment store he got into the toy industry in 1990, where he gained experience over the last 20 years in Germany and abroad.
In the past three years, Dae-jin Youn(Jean) has been working at one of South Korea’s most widespread and established conglomerates: Kakao. He has been working for Kakao’s educational platform for kids, also known as Kakaokids, and is a developer for toys made for a diverse range of ages. Jean is an avid member of the National Competency Standard Commissioners (NCS) in the toy industry, and gained working experience in the toy and hobby industry for over ten years. Additionally, he is a columnist for Toy Magazine in South Korea.
Since 1993, Rainer Weiskirchen works as a spokesperson for TÜV Rheinland, a state-approved independent trade agency that also checks the quality and safety standards of toys. The TÜV Rheinland tests and certifies products according to the German and/or European Consumer Product Safety Act. Their “tested safety” certification mark (GS) guarantees a high quality of products.
Thomas Wodzicki is an educationalist specialized in games. He also works as a teacher of adult education and project developer for the German Federal Association Spielmobile e.V. Spielmobile is a Germany-wide network of working groups and the proper authority for the gap year, usually taken to do voluntary work in the social sector in Bavaria. n mark (GS) guarantees a high quality of products.
Tracy Wood is a mother of two children from the UK, who used her experiences of toy buying for her children and turned it into a successful toy and game review website, which was voted the best toy blog in the UK in 2014. Gaining a working knowledge of toy trends, and working with brands and retailers along the way, she has been running the website Toybuzz for over 10 years.
Chemist Dr. Harald Käb has been advising companies and institutions on sustainable chemicals and plastics for over 25 years. His focus is on go-to-market strategies for bio-based plastics and products made from them.