The Licensing Awards 2011 took place in the glittering surroundings of The Great Room at London’s prestigious Grosvenor House Hotel on September 13. Over 1,300 retailers, licensees, licensors and suppliers attended the event to honour the industry’s highest achievers. Award-winning funnyman and star of The Inbetweeners Greg Davies went down a storm as the host.

Ian Hyder, director of The Licensing Awards commented: “The Licensing Awards was the culmination of a huge amount of work and input from the entire licensing industry. Their commitment and creativity made the awards event a truly memorable night.”

Now in their sixth year, The Licensing Awards (created by The Licensing Source Book Europe, part of Max Publishing) celebrate the achievements of all aspects of the industry from retailers to products, licensed properties to marketing expertise. The headline sponsor for the event was Emap Connect, organisers of Spring Fair International and Autumn Fair International. A host of leading brands and companies sponsored individual awards categories, whilst industry trade association LIMA once again leant their support to the event.

Jacqui McCarron, Sponsorship Manager of Retail, Emap Connect, commented: "Spring Fair is the largest showcase of licensed products available under one roof anywhere in the UK and we were delighted to support the licensing industry as headline sponsor of The Licensing Awards this year. The quality of entries was superb - and I'd like to congratulate all the winners."

The Licensing Awards 2011 Winners are as follows:

Best Licensed Toys or Games Range
Star Wars Talking Plush Range from Underground Toys

Best Licensed Dress Up or Party Range
Sesame Street Dress Up Costumes from Smiffy’s

Best Licensed Children's Apparel Range
The Gruffalo SS11 Range for Sainsbury's TU from Brecrest Babywear

Best Licensed Adult Apparel Range
Where’s Wally? Underwear and Nightwear for Next from Somerbond

Best Licensed Written, Listening or Learning Range
Peppa Pig Electronic Learning Range from InspirationWorks

Best Licensed Paper Products or Stationery Range
Star Wars Classic Poster and 3D Poster Range from GBeye

Best Licensed Giftware Range
Hello Kitty Nerdy Range from Blueprint Collections

Best Licensed Home Décor, Tableware or Housewares Range
Sophie Conran Buckets Of Fun from Burgon & Ball

Best Licensed Food and Drink Range
Nando’s Food Gift Range from Kimm & Miller UK

Best Licensed Brand Range
Red or Dead Bicycle Collection from Raleigh

The Innovation Award
Volkswagen T1 Camper Van Tent from The Monster Factory

The Retailer Awards

Best Pre-School Retailer of Licensed Products
Asda (includes George@Asda)

Best Kids Retailer of Licensed Products
Next

Best Brands Retailer of Licensed Products
John Lewis

Best Direct Selling Retailer of Licensed Products
Amazon

Top Retailer Award
Next

The Licensed Property Awards

Best Pre-School Licensed Property
Fireman Sam

Best Schoolers/Tween or Teen Licensed Property
Ben 10

Best Brand Licensed Property
JCB

Best Sports Licensed Property
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Best Celebrity Licensed Property
JLS

The Best Classic Licensed Property
Star Wars

Best Licensed Marketing Communication 2011 Award
Mr Happy Should've Gone To Specsavers from Chorion

Honorary Achievement Award
John Sinfield