ToyAward Winners 2020
Baby & Infant (0-3 years)
- Winner
- Nominee 1
- Nominee 2
PLAYMOBIL 1.2.3 AQUA
PLAYMOBILSplish, splash! In the compact water play world of 1.2.3. AQUA from Playmobil, our little ones are completely in their element. The crank on the side produces a stream of water in which figures, boats and water toys spin merrily. The jury praised not only its high-quality design but also its intuitive functionality. All play features are marked red and the little paddlers can playfully train their fine motor skills by turning and pressing the buttons. Expandable: a slide, cute yellow ducks or a swing are available as add-ons to the water play world.
PreSchool (3-6 years)
- Winner
- Nominee 1
- Nominee 2
Knight’s Castle Ball Track
Gollnest & Kiesel GmbH & Co. KGWith the Knight‘s Castle Ball Track, GoKi offers fans of chivalry a unique marble run. The lightweight wooden elements can be extended in many different ways to form a stately fortress, one that can be redesigned over and over again thanks to its modular construction. The coloured wooden balls roll from tower to tower at lofty heights and the lords of the castle can develop their motor skills and sense of three-dimensional space. The colourful wooden components, the unlimited design variety and the simple plug-in mechanism delighted the jury, who chose Knight‘s Castle Ball Track as the winner of the PreSchool category.
SchoolKids (6-10 years)
- Winner
- Nominee 1
- Nominee 2
Balloon Puncher
Silverlit Toys Manufactory Ltd.The Balloon Puncher from Silverlit Toys Manufactory brings fun and action into children‘s bedrooms. Two balloons are clamped onto the remote-controlled bodies as heads: one robot-like base each on rollers with two arms. You can already see from the ninja eyes that things are about to get dangerous. The aim of the game is to make your opponent‘s balloon burst by boxing with your own Balloon Puncher. The colourful boxers are remote-controlled. The jury especially liked the mix of a balloon bursting game and technology coupled with the amusing concept of the entertaining game.
Teenager & Adults (10+ years)
- Winner
- Nominee 1
- Nominee 2
Mystery House: Adventures in a Box
Cranio Creations SRLEscape rooms are currently very popular with young and old alike – so it’s great that there is an exit game for home enjoyment with the Mystery House from Cranio Creations! The cards are placed in the mysteriously designed 3D playing field according to coordinates. Each player can now peek into it and look for clues. Whoever finds one types the coordinates of the card into an accompanying app on the tablet – and receives items that help further solve this puzzle.
Startup
- Winner
- Nominee 1
- Nominee 2
Calculix number bricks
CALCULIXA building block with a difference: the Calculix number bricks set from CALCULIX consists of high-quality wooden building blocks in the form of differently sized numbers. The clever thing about them is that the blocks help children learn about basic arithmetic operations in a playful way. If you put an 8 and a 9 on top of each other, then all the other combinations that result in 17 will come to the same height – and voilà: addition learnt. Subtraction, multiplication and division are also clearly explained in the instructions. The educational value and the pleasing design made the jury rave.
Jurors 2020
Dr. Maria Costa
AIJU Technological Institute – Research Manager in Children and Leisure sectorsSince 1992 Dr. Maria Costa is the Research Manager at AIJU, a private children’s research center located in Spain, and deals with the usability testing of children's items. For 25 years she has been, the coordinator for the “Games and Toys Guide”, during this time she has also managed the analysis of several thousands of toys. She is the author of numerous posts, articles and books on this topic.
Axel Dammler
iconkids & youth, Managing DirectorAxel 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.
Andrew Dobbie
Gameplan Europe Ltd., Managing DirectorAs 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.
Konstantin Frishberg
Detsky Mir, Director Toys and Games DepartmentSince 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.
Dr. Thomas Märtz
VEDES AG, Chief Executive OfficerDr. Thomas Märtz has worked for VEDES AG since 1999. As the cooperative buying and marketing group with the longest tradition in the German toy industry, VEDES offers SME retailers numerous services and in particular an efficient wholesale platform.
Jörg Meister
little big things GmbH, Managing directorJörg 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.
Nadine Müller
Premini GmbH, Managing DirectorNadine Müller has been testing toys with children aged 0 to 14, parents and pedagogical institutions for more than seven years and, as a trend scout, is always on the lookout for premium toys guaranteeing long-lasting playing fun. As a consultant to companies in the toy industry, her customised market research solutions are spoken highly of by those in the know.
Thorsten Paedelt
duo schreib & spiel GmbH & Co.KG, Managing DirectorThorsten 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.
Jochen Pohle
EK/servicegroup, Head of Department in the business area familyJochen Pohle is Head of Department in the business area family at the multi-sector network EK/servicegroup in Bielefeld, Germany. Before that, he had been Purchase Director at the Spiele Max AG and worked in serveral managing positions for the Metro Group in Germany and Asia. Jochen Pohle is enrooted in the toy industry for nearly 15 years.
Andreas Schäfer
idee+spiel GmbH, Managing DirectorSince 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.
Dean Smith
jaZams, Co-ownerDean 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.
Vincent Stozicky
JouéClub, France, Commercial DirectorVincent Stozicky has worked for the JouéClub Group for over 25 years and since 2000 as Commercial Director of SIDJ responsible for the import-export and sales platform of the whole JouéClub network and for the development of the corporate image at European level.
Marietheres Waschk
Education Officer of Jugendzentren Köln gGmbh (youth centres in Cologne), 2nd Chairwoman of the Forum Spielpädagogik e.V. association, social pedagogue and specialist in educational playAfter majoring in the field of working with people with intellectual disabilities and sensory impairment as well as in open child and youth work, Marietheres Waschk became an education officer for educational play and inclusion at Jugendzentren Köln gGmbH. She also runs an adventure playground in Cologne, where she carries out projects that focus on play and cultural education.
Rainer Weiskirchen
TÜV Rheinland, Press OfficerSince 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
BAG Spielmobile e.V., Project ManagerThomas 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
Toybuzz, Managing directorTracy 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.
