"Hong Kong Licensing Awards 2019" & its Training Programs Open for Applications

HONG KONG, Sept. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hong Kong Licensing Awards (HKLA) 2019 is organized by the Asian Licensing Association (ALA) under the sponsorship from Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), to recognize the remarkable achievements of local practitioners and companies of both licensing and creative industries, and also to promote and encourage the development in these fields. This is the fifth edition of the HKLA.

To mark the official launching of the fifth edition and announce details of the awards and the training programs, the Hong Kong Licensing Awards 2019 (HKLA) Launching Ceremony cum Licensing for Creative Industries Seminar was held today (30 August 2019) at InnoCentre, Kowloon Tong. The ALA was delighted to have Ms. Jersey YUEN, Assistant Head of CreateHK as the Guest-of-honor. Other guests are Dr. Toby CHAN, Founding Chairman of ALA, Mr. Danny CHEUNG, Chairman of ALA, the board members of the ALA and the representatives of the supporting organizations, etc.

Ms. Jersey YUEN, Assistant Head of CreateHK, remarked that the HKLA has been attracting more and more licensors and licensees to compete for various awards. She expressed her gratitude to the ALA for hosting the HKLA again which encourages local creative industries to utilize licensing in exploring more business opportunities.

At the Launching Ceremony of the HKLA 2019 today, Dr. Toby CHAN, Founding Chairman of the ALA said that, "the HKLA 2019 will continue to have five Awards that honor the excellent practitioners in different fields of licensing, giving them the recognition of their current achievements, and further encouragement which helps sustain the future growth of the industry. These Awards will demonstrate that licensing industry can bring great economic benefits to the society as a whole. Moreover, you may notice that while we will present two awards in their original titles, viz. the Best Licensee Award and the Best Promotion Campaign Award, again in this edition, 'Hong Kong' is added to the titles of the remaining three awards, namely the Best Hong Kong Property Award, the Best Hong Kong Young Property Award and the Best Hong Kong New Character Design for Licensing Award. Silver and Bronze Awards are also added to these three award categories. We wish these new initiatives can help encourage more local talent to join the creative and licensing industries."

On the same occasion, Mr. Danny CHEUNG, Chairman of the ALA, introduced the two training programs to be launched under this edition of the HKLA. He said, "thanks to the sponsorship by CreateHK that the HKLA can continue to provide training programs. Further to the very successful ones held in the last edition, the two training programs in this edition are enhanced by extending the teaching hours from six hours in two sessions to 12 hours in four sessions. Beginning on 6 September and 12 October 2019 respectively, the two training programs will focus on the design of a style guide and sales pitching techniques for licensing. Specialists in the relevant fields have been invited as instructors to teach the participants both the knowledge and the skills."

The training programs are targeted at local designers, new IP holders and licensing industry players. They will learn from Mr. Shawn CHIU, who will teach the design of a style guide, and Ms. Dorothy CHAN, Mr. Roger CHAN and Mr. Stanley CHIU, who will teach the sales pitching techniques for licensing. All these instructors are experienced professionals in design, animation and comics, brand management or licensing, and have been working for multinational companies as creative or senior management with sound knowledge and practical experience.

It was also announced in today's Launching Ceremony that the HKLA 2019 was open for online applications till 23:59 of 27 September 2019 (Friday). The Awards Presentation Ceremony will be held on 7 January 2020, during the Hong Kong International Licensing Show 2020 (the Licensing Show 2020). As for the two training programs, they are also open for free online registration on a first-come-first-served basis.

Immediately after the Launching Ceremony, the Licensing for Creative Industries Seminar was held with Mr. John CHAN, creator of the character "Din Dong", Mr. Manfred WONG Man-Chun, veteran film director/filmmaker, and Ms. Andrea LEUNG, General Manager, Leasing Marketing and Promotions of Sino Group, as the guest speakers. They shared their experience in creative industries and licensing with the participants.

The HKLA 2019 has five Awards, among which is the Best Hong Kong New Character Design for Licensing Award. The top five finalists in this award category are entitled to the free production of product samples and figurines for their original characters for display at the Licensing Show 2020 on 6 to 8 January 2020. A mascot will further be produced for the character winning the Gold Award in this category to take part in the Mascot Parade of the Licensing Show 2020.

For the other four award categories, the awarded entries will also be displayed at the Licensing Show, while those of the Best Hong Kong Property Award and, the Best Hong Kong Young Property Award will join the awarded entries of the Best Hong Kong New Character Design for Licensing Award in the display at the HKTDC Design Gallery at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

For further information on the HKLA 2019 and download of the application forms, please visit: www.hklicensingawards.hk  
For registration for Training Program for Style Guide - bit.ly/2OCocef
For registration for Training Program for Sales Pitching - bit.ly/300mCEx

About Hong Kong Licensing Awards

The Hong Kong Licensing Awards (HKLA) project was launched in 2015, and came to its fifth edition in 2019. There are five award categories in the HKLA 2019, 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 aim to recognize 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 applying 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 drawing together 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 favorable to both their members and the general public. The goal of the Association is to promote Hong Kong to be 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 HKLA since 2015 to encourage Hong Kong creative industries to explore business opportunities through licensing.

Disclaimer: Create Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise take part in the project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) are those of the project organizers only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Communications and Creative Industries Branch of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Create Hong Kong, the CreateSmart Initiative Secretariat or the CreateSmart Initiative Vetting Committee.

On the Hong Kong Licensing Awards 2019 (HKLA) Launching Ceremony cum Licensing for Creative Industries Seminar, the officiating guests are: Ms. Jersey YUEN, Assistant Head of CreateHK (middle), Dr. Toby CHAN, Founding Chairman of ALA (2nd from the left), Mr. Danny CHEUNG, Chairman of ALA (2nd from the right ), Mr. Tim Kondo, board member of ALA (1st from the left) and Mr. Gordin Chin, board members of the ALA (1st from the right).

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20190904/2569551-1?lang=0