Category Award News

The Rainbow Toy Awards are currently being collated and the pressure is on, toy pitted against toy!  The competition has been exceptionally tough this year and of course only the top toys can win an award.

The fun begins at 10am on Friday 27th September, right here on Rainbow Toy Awards

The Rainbow Toy Awards are now in their fifth year and well recognised by the toy industry.  The Rainbow Toy Award entries are all tested by the real audience that matters…the children themselves!  Winners and Highly Commended toys have been played with by our testers and awarded the top points in their category for Play Value, Longevity, Packaging, Build Quality,Value for Money and of course, they give their Overall Impression of the toy.

No toys win a Rainbow Award just because a professional says they are a great toy or that they sell well.  Parents can rest assured that any toy that wins a Rainbow Toy Award is a good buy and their children will have some excellent play value ahead of them!

What’s more, as each award is announced the toys are linked from this site to a ‘Where to Buy’ retailer site so gift givers can get their Christmas shopping done with ease!

Come along on Friday – the awards ceremony starts at 10am!

Our final week for entries is always a little hectic, companies inevitably leave things until the last minute – but that’s what keeps us on our toes so we’re not complaining!

Entries this year have received into the office and sent on to testers, who have all been most rigorous in their appraisals, although already there seem to be some clear winners inching ahead in the scores…

This is some of our week in pictures:

We even got sent chocolate this week too!

The testers are ready!  Each year the team at Rainbow Awards vets its new testers to ensure suitability, this year on the testers list there are more bloggers than ever before!  This is great news for any new products entering the awards!

All toys are tested by children, then the adults fill in the forms and do the scoring.  Where there is a blogger on the case, they are encouraged to write an online review of the product on their blog, adding valuable ‘Where to Buy’ and other links to the piece.

Of course, they don’t divulge their secret scores!

This coverage, early on in the year is excellent for the companies involved, as early reviews ahead of the awards begin a good PR buzz for the toy.

The Rainbow Awards team have all worked in the toy industry for a number of years and therefore understand the importance of consumer coverage.  This year the awards will be in print once again in a number of consumer magazines.  Last year saw articles on the Rainbow Awards in a number of magazines such as Gurgle Magazine and The Mums Survival Guide.

For further information click the ‘Contact Us’ button above.

We’re looking for toy testers!  You will need to have children (or children in your care) between 0 and 16, and be willing to test at least one toy/game and then report back to us via a two page form.

Apply by emailing info[at]rainbowpr.co.uk and stating your name, address, ages and genders of children.  We need to know this so we send an entry for you to test that is relevant and age appropriate to your family.  You will need to be able to commit to getting the completed forms back to us by September 7th 2013.

If you have been a tester for us in the past, please reapply with your up to date details.

Anyone who agrees to be a toy tester can display our badge if they have a blog.

Applications for testers is now closed for 2013

The Rainbow 2013 Toy Awards are open for entry!   The categories this year are:

Preschool Toys

Games & Puzzles

Construction Toys

Educational Toys

Imaginative Play

Outdoor Toys

Wheeled Toys

Soft Toys

Arts & Crafts

Electronic Toys

As you can see, once again, only ten categories, with one winner and one highly commended in each category – to win a Rainbow Toy Award is an achievement indeed!

Plus, we will be announcing them live online, and we’ll let you know about the valuable consumer coverage later this month.