Winners were announced for the Character & Animation category, and the Brand & Design category. 

L-R: Sarah Burman, Kelvyn Gardner, and Zara Picken.

The winners of this year’s License This! competition were announced yesterday afternoon at Brand Licensing Europe following 90 minutes of pitching and presentations from the six finalists. This year’s competition attracted a record number of entries and, for the first time in its 10-year history, BLE presented two License This! awards.

The winner of the License This! Character & Animation award is Oddcats!. A pre-school property from Zara Picken, the Oddcats are mischievous creatures with a taste for adventure and socks. Cute, colourful, a little bit quirky and with a distinct stitch design, the Oddcats borrow odd socks to help them along on their globetrotting travels.

The winner of the License This! Brand & Design award is Animals!. Sarah Burman’s range of colourful, characterful quirky animal designs features unique patchwork textures, strong colours and a hint of retro.

License This! chair and LIMA UK managing director Kelvyn Gardner commented: “We had six fantastically original and diverse properties in two very distinctive categories. There was licensing potential in each one, which made for a very difficult decision, but we are confident we have picked two very worthy winners from the class of License This! 2018.”

The two License This! winners will receive a free exhibition stand at BLE 2019, one year’s LIMA membership, PR support and advice from a panel of industry experts. For the first time, all finalists will receive legal consultation from competition sponsor Wynne-Jones. Previous entrants – both winners and finalists – have also signed lucrative agent and licensing deals off the back of the competition.