2014 Slow Toy Awards – Shortlist Unveiled
The team behind the Slow Toy Awards are thrilled to officially unveil this year’s shortlist. Over the past week the judging panel have been hard at work reviewing this year’s entries and after much consideration they have reached agreement on the final selection to send through to the next stage!
The 2014 Shortlist includes a fabulous collection of toys that truly reflect the Slow Toy message; however, they will now go up against each other in product testing to uncover this year’s ultimate Slow Seven and Slow Craft Toy winner.
The 14 Slow Seven shortlisted toys include; Le Toy Van Doctor’s Set, Bigjigs Toy Marble Run, Tobar Wooden Domino Race, Plush Wheelybug, Tegu 24 piece Magnetic Wooden Blocks, Bigjigs Toy Shop Till Scanner, Mecanno Multi Models 10 Model Set, Le Toy Van Fire Engine Set, Sorgenfresser Worry Eater, Great Little Trading Company Superstar Kitchen, Carry Case Finger Puppet Theatre, Boikido Push and Play Rabbit Wagon, Learning Resources® Mental Blox Critical Thinking Game and Wonderworld Rainbow Sound Blocks.
As a brand new category for 2014, the Slow Team were delighted with the amount of craft entries and is delighted to announce the official shortlist, which includes; The World of Imagination Make Believe Shop Set, Carddies and CALAFANT.
It is now over to the six judges to decide the winners. Ian Ellis, Toys and Books Buyer at John Lewis, Kate Carter, the life and style editor at the Guardian online, Liat Hughes Joshi, parenting journalist and published author of ‘What to Buy Your Baby’, Alison Canavan, parenting specialist and international model (alisoncanavan.com), Sally J. Hall, Editor of B magazine and published author and Jennie Henley, the top parenting blogger behind www.edspire.co.uk, will be testing the shortlisted toys with their children to determine the ultimate Slow Seven and Slow Craft Toy.
The response to this year’s Slow Toy Awards has been overwhelming, there were an unprecedented amount of entries and to have been recognised by John Lewis, where the awards ceremony will take place, was the icing on the cake! The partnership will certainly put the awards on the map again and when it comes to revealing the Slow Toy winners in October, the team can celebrate in style.
Commenting on the awards and the 2014 shortlist, Thierry Bourret, the brains behind the Slow Toy Movement commented: “I am delighted with the 17 shortlisted products, the judges have truly captured the essence of what these awards are all about and there is a great variety. I have a couple of favourites, but I think on the whole, deciding the final Slow Seven and Slow Craft Toy will be quite difficult. I am very excited to see what the outcome will be. Having the support of John Lewis this year has given the awards a great boost and I hope it allows the Slow Toy message to travel even further!”