The Toy Award 2019 goes to...
Every year, the Toy Awards are presented at the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg. A jury of experts honours outstanding product ideas from various sectors.
The "Toy Award" is one of the most important honours in the toy industry. If a product receives this award, it means that it is one of the most outstanding innovations on the market. This year, a jury of 16 experts selected the winners from 838 product innovations submitted. The award is divided into various categories. In addition to the age-specific categories, the "Start-up" category was added for the first time this year.
The jury takes several criteria into account when selecting the winners. In addition to fun, originality, safety, workmanship and quality, the comprehensibility of the product concept and the potential for success in retail also play an important role.
The following toys each won the coveted "Toy Award" in their category:
Baby & Infant (0-3 years)
The winning product in this category is a cooperation between "Hape" and "Kids II". Together, they have developed a wooden piano designed to introduce children up to the age of three to music. However, the keys on this piano do not work in the usual way. The instrument uses touch and finger warmth to recognise which note you want to play and reproduces it with surprisingly good quality. With this piano, it is possible to play pre-recorded melodies or compose your own creations. A successful product that combines well-known material with new technology.
PreSchool (3-6 years)
The jury selected a product series from "Bruder" as the winner for children aged three to six. In the "bworld theme sets", children can immerse themselves in realistic play worlds and play various role-playing games. In addition to a hospital, a police station and a horse stable, the jury was particularly impressed by the car workshop. They find it exciting that the child is introduced to the manual skills of the profession. As these models are extremely detailed and can also be used as collector's items, these sets are also exciting for older children or even adults.
SchoolKids (6-10 years)
The "Toy Award" in the SchoolKids category goes to Playmobil this year. Their underwater mermaid world impressed the expert jury in several respects. The set has various elements, such as an electrically opening shell, imaginative carriages and pastel-coloured play figures. As this set can be combined and expanded with other Playmobil products, it fits into almost any child's room. Almost, because in my opinion this set is more for female children up to the age of ten.
Teenager & Adults (from 10 years)
The winner of this category takes classic board games into the digital age. The board game "kNOW!" from Ravensburger Spieleverlag was honoured with the "Toy Award" 2019 in the Teenager & Adults category. It is a quiz game that contains different and topical questions depending on the time and place of play. However, a smartphone and the Google Assistant are required to answer these questions. Or as Ravensburger calls it: "Professor kNOW!". If you don't have an internet connection, this game can also be played with the offline cards included. I really want to give "kNOW!" a try. So you can look forward to a detailed review about it. :)
Start-up
This category has only been included in the "Toy Award" since this year. I have never heard of some of the nominated manufacturers. Including the winner. "Shenzhen Bell creative Science and Education Co., Ltd" is the manufacturer of the winning product "Mabot". Mabot is a robot with which children can playfully familiarise themselves with robotics and programming. But first it has to be assembled, as it arrives at your home disassembled in all its individual parts. Mabot can be controlled and programmed via a smartphone app. Depending on the age group, different levels can be covered. Personally, I think Mabot is a nice little robot, but unfortunately not a sensational novelty. Nevertheless, I think it's valuable that young companies and small start-ups without a large budget are also given the chance to win a "Toy Award".
Unfortunately, I was not allowed to photograph the winning products at the Spielwarenmesse. So for the time being, you'll have to make do with the manufacturers' pictures. However, as soon as we have the winning products in our range, I will definitely take a closer look at one or two of them for you and report on them again. <p
