"Hong Kong Licensing Awards 2020 cum Asian Licensing Awards 2020 Online Awards Presentation Ceremony" Successfully Held

HONG KONG, March 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Asian Licensing Association (ALA) was delighted to host the joint online Presentation Ceremony on 26th February 2021 for its Hong Kong Licensing Awards (HKLA 2020) and Asian Licensing Awards (ALA 2020). ALA was honoured to welcome Dr. Bernard Chan, JP, Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) as our Guest of Honour. (Please check the full version of the online Award Presentation Ceremony here：https://fb.watch/3UjOMuSUSd/)

As a grand annual event since 2015, the joint Award Presentation Ceremony recognises the outstanding achievements of practitioners in the licensing and creative industries over the past year, encouraging and nurturing further development in both Hong Kong and Asia as a whole. Dr. Bernard Chan will congratulate 20 winners of both HKLA 2020 and ALA 2020.

This was the sixth occasion of the Asia Licensing Association, the one and only award scheme dedicated to the creative licensing industry, and was sponsored by Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) of the HKSAR Government.

The Association provides a unique platform for international licensors, licensees, agents and manufacturers to get together and share industry insights, further facilitating the growth of local creative sectors. It enables the expansion of business networks and enhances market exposure. As a result the local market has witnessed strong growth in both licensing and creative industries, ever broadening in scale and scope of operation.

The global licensing industry has been booming in recent years, with the markets for licensed merchandise in Hong Kong, the Mainland and across Asia seeing especially strong growth. Through the robust collaboration between the trade and local government, the Hong Kong creative industry in particular, is blossoming internationally. It benefits from a number of competitive advantages including a comprehensive legal system on the protection of intellectual property (IP) rights, a solid reputation for respecting contracts, advanced distribution networks, etc. Such advantages have acted as a magnet, attracting increasing numbers of quality licensing professionals and famous properties to develop their business in our city. 

Despite, or perhaps due to, the measures taken to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the E-commerce market has grown rapidly amid today's general global economic downturn, resulting in tremendous business opportunities in the licensing and creative industries.

In spite of the pandemic, the HKLA 2020 was encouraged to have received more than 100 applications for the awards in the five award categories, namely the Best Hong Kong Property Award, the Best Licensee Award, the Best Promotion Campaign Award, the Best Hong Kong Young Property Award and the Best Hong Kong New Character Design for Licensing Award. The Gold Award winners are listed below (please refer to Annex 1 for the full list):

The Association was delighted by the overwhelming response, and the high quality of the awardees. It was also pleased with the result of the training programs offered under the project, nurturing the talent of local designers, new IP holders and other stakeholders in the licensing industry. On the occasion, the two training programs — design of a style guide and sales pitching techniques for licensing — were commenced online on 1^sh August and 10^th October 2020 respectively. Happily, due to the excellent results of previous programs, even more experienced practitioners were invited as instructors this year. And the record number of trainees was also encouraged and showed the significance and value of these training programs.

The online Presentation Ceremony of the ALA 2020, recognising the exceptional achievements of licensing practitioners throughout Asia, also comprised five award categories, namely the Best Promotion Campaign, the Best Property in Asia, the Best Licensee, the Best Young Property and the Best Asian Property (please refer to Annex 2 for the full list of awardees).

Except for the Best Hong Kong New Character Design for Licensing Award, the winners of the Gold Award were nominated to compete for the Asian Licensing Awards 2020.

For further information on the Hong Kong Licensing Awards 2020 and the Asian Licensing Awards 2020, please visit: www.hklicensingawards.hk 

About Hong Kong Licensing Awards

The annual Hong Kong Licensing Awards (HKLA) have been held six times now, since 2015. There are five award categories in the HKLA 2020, namely the Best Hong Kong Property Award, the Best Licensee Award, the Best Promotion Campaign Award, the Best Hong Kong Young Property Award, as well as the Best Hong Kong New Character Design for Licensing Award. These awards recognise the outstanding achievements of the practitioners in the relevant industries and promote Hong Kong's creative industries. With a view to nurturing new talent in character design and promoting local original designs, the Best Hong Kong New Character Design for Licensing Award is dedicated to Hong Kong designers with less than nine years of design-related working experience, and their application of new character designs must have never been commercially licensed.

About Asian Licensing Association (www.ala.org.hk)

The mission of Asian Licensing Association (the Association) is to foster the growth and expansion of the licensing, creative and innovative industries by sharing the experience and professional knowledge of the industry practitioners. The Association aims to cooperate with the HKSAR Government, the other governments in Asia and other statutory bodies to assist the licensing, creative and innovative companies, thus enhancing the overall business environment and competitiveness of Hong Kong. The Association also aims to provide guidance to the industry practitioners for making win-win decisions which are favourable to both their members and the general public. The goal of the Association is to establish Hong Kong as the Asian hub for licensing, creativity and innovation.

About Create Hong Kong (www.createhk.gov.hk)

Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) is a dedicated agency set up by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in June 2009. It is under the Communications and Creative Industries Branch of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau and dedicated to spearheading the development of creative industries in Hong Kong. Its strategic foci are nurturing talent and facilitating start-ups, exploring markets, and promoting Hong Kong as Asia's creative capital, and fostering a creative atmosphere in the community. CreateHK sponsors the HKLA since 2015 to encourage Hong Kong creative industries to explore business opportunities through licensing. 

Annex 1

"Hong Kong Licensing Awards 2020" Awardees

Annex 2

"Asian Licensing Awards 2020" Awardees

Best Licensee Award

Best Asian Property Award

Best Young Property in Asia Award

Best Property in Asia Award

Best Promotion Campaign Award