The Licensing Awards 2012 are now officially open for entries. Entry and nomination forms for all the awards categories are now available from the website www.thelicensingawards.co.uk.

“The licensing industry is incredibly dynamic, vibrant and exciting. The Licensing Awards 2012 are the ultimate accolades to reward excellence in retail execution, product innovation, property development and marketing expertise in the licensing field,” commented Ian Hyder, director of The Licensing Awards and The Licensing Source Book (which owns and organises the awards). “The status of the awards is down to the sheer quality of the entries and the integrity of the judging process. The support and input from the industry - from licensors, licensees and retailers - means that The Licensing Awards really do reward the ‘best of the best’,” Ian added.

• Product Awards – for ranges of licensed products
• Retailer Awards – for retailers of licensed merchandise
• Property Awards – for specific licensed properties
• Marketing Communication Award – for a specific marketing promotion
• Special Awards – for product innovation and honorary achievement

The closing date for entering the licensed product awards categories is Wednesday 23 May 2012. These will be judged by an extensive panel of leading retail buyers from leading high street names.

Online and downloadable nomination forms for the Retailer Awards, Best Marketing Communications Award and Honorary Achievement Award are also now available from the website.

For the second year running, the Licensed Property Awards can only be entered online. The deadline date for the Property Awards is June 22. These entries will be judged by a panel of retailers and licensees.

You can now follow The Licensing Awards on Facebook and twitter, become a fan and keep up with news as it happens.

Tickets are also now on sale for The Licensing Awards event, which takes place in The Great Room in The Grosvenor House Hotel in London on Tuesday 11 September 2012 at which the winners of the 2012 awards will be announced. Over 1,200 retailers, licensees, licensees and industry suppliers will attend the event, with hundreds of tickets already bought.

Tickets for The Licensing Awards 2012 event are available from Createvents Tel 01252 781178 or e-mail clare@createvents.co.uk