Walt Disney Company UK and Ireland honours licensees

The Walt Disney Company UK & Ireland has unveiled the winners of its inaugural 2013 Licensee Awards.

Over 80 partners attended the gala dinner at London’s Hurlingham Club on Wednesday, January 22nd.

The awards were presented in ten different categories, with the shortlist and winners decided by a panel of senior Disney executives. Decisions were based on various relevant criteria including consumer engagement, product innovation, cross category approach and communication across multiple platforms.

A special Licensee Lifetime Achievement Award was also presented to David Aykroyd, joint MD of Aykroyd & Sons. This was in recognition of a family business which has been an "outstanding" Disney licensee for over 30 years. The firm holds Disney, Marvel and Lucas contracts for nightwear apparel.

The full list of winners are below:

Best New Licensee

Ferrero

Shortlist: Eaglemoss, High Street TV, Ferrero

Most Innovative Product of the Year

High Street TV’s Stompeez

Shortlist: Talking Sofia with Animal Friends, High Street TV’s Stompeez, Tilt n Fly Dusty

Most Integrated Marketing Campaign of the Year

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2013

Shortlist: LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2013, Primark Monsters University, Hasbro Iron Man 3

Best Boy Licensee

Pyramid

Shortlist: Pyramid, Hasbro, Fabric Flavours

Best Girls and Tween Licensee

Jakks

Shortlist: Ravensburger, Cooneen, Jakks

Best Adult and Teen Licensee

Primark

Shortlist: Pyramid, Primark, Knitmania

Best Infant and Pre-school Licensee

Dennicci

Shortlist: Tomy, Dennicci, Flair

Best Publishing Licensee

Parragon

Shortlist: Panini, Eaglemoss, Parragon

Business Partner of the Year

Procos

Shortlist: LEGO, Procos, Character World

Disney Licensee Lifetime Achievement Award

Aykroyd & Sons

Shortlist: George, Procos, Aykroyd & Sons

"We were delighted to host so many esteemed licensee partners at this special celebration and to be able to recognise the fantastic products, campaigns and outstanding service that they have delivered for The Walt Disney Company over the past year, and in some cases longer," said Mike Stagg, VP retail, Disney UK.

"We will continue to work with all of our licensee partners bringing innovation and excellence in everything we do during 2014 and beyond."