Winner of prestigious accolade will be named at September’s ceremony.
This year’s LIMA UK Young Professionals Rising Star Award has joined the line-up at the UK Licensing Awards, with the accolade being presented to the winner on the night.
In an exciting move, six nominees will each receive a free ticket to the glittering event – which takes place on Tuesday September 13 in The Great Room in The Grosvenor House Hotel.
The winner will be presented with their award by the host in a room packed with over 1,500 licensors, licensees, retailers and industry executives.
The nomination process will open in April and close on July 14.
You can nominate yourself or a colleague, however proposed candidates should have between one and seven years of experience and be aged 30 or younger. They will have demonstrated a commitment and passion for the licensing industry and seek additional professional development opportunities in order to improve their skills.
In addition, nominees will have shown innovation in planning and implementing successful licensing strategy and demonstrate leadership potential.
Submission forms for the LIMA-owned award will be available to download from The Licensing Awards website from April.
The nominations and the winner will be selected by independent judges chosen by LIMA.
Last year’s winner was Matthew Glynn from The FA (pictured picking up his award from Bettina Koeckler of The Deal Factory).
“It is wonderful to honour the finalists and winner of the LIMA UK Young Professional Rising Star 2016 award at the UK Licensing Awards this year for the very first time. These young people are the future of our industry,” commented Jakki Brown, joint md of Max Publishing, which owns and organises The Licensing Awards.
“LIMA has been an official supporter of The UK Licensing Awards since they started. This latest development further fuses our union.”
Kelvyn Gardner, LIMA UK md, added: “LIMA’s UK Rising Star Award has proved popular with young licensing professional from the get-go. This year, as an enhancement to our recognition of new talent, the tie-in with Max Publishing will raise the profile yet again.
“It will be especially cool to reward six 2016 nominees with a free ticket to The Licensing Awards themselves, an event not always accessible to junior staff members. Plus, one of our nominees will have the ultimate honour of receiving their award on the stage as the first of the glittering prizes at the awards ceremony in September.
“I’m expecting the industry to put forward their brightest and best youngsters to be nominated as LIMA Rising Star 2016.”
A special Young Professionals’ Party will be held in the themed environment of Cartoon Network’s London HQ on July 21, where the six nominees will be announced.
The party will feature Ben Bocquelet, creator of The Amazing World of Gumball. The show was the winner of the 2015 BAFTA for Best Children’s Animation and recently picked up Best Children’s Series and The Children’s Choice accolade at the 2016 British Animation Awards.
Ben will be presenting a special ‘making of Gumball’ seminar during the summer party.
Tickets for the party cost £15 and include drinks and food. You do need to be aged 30 and under to attend. Contact Ryan Beaird on 01908 802863 for further details and to book.
