The Junior Design Awards: Connecting brands with experts and giving them vital exposure…

Having run for 10 years this year, The Junior Design Awards are now an incredibly well-oiled machine. We invite the very best of the best brands to showcase their amazing wares in our bespoke in-house exhibition space and bring together an incredible panel of judges made up of industry experts, celebrities and influencers who have a special interest in the field of parenting.

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JDA 2021: Find out how you brand can enter here >>

Although we have our winning formula, we do change things up every year to keep things fresh, introducing new categories, our hugely popular networking brunches and even exciting guest performances. One thing that never changes however, is the sheer excitement we feel when we discover new and exciting talent that we can reward with our internationally recognized awards and introduce to a fantastic array of children’s stylists, photographers and parenting influencers who then go on to champion the brands.

Our last awards were held during the pandemic but we managed to host the judging days safely and under strict health and safety guidelines in between lockdowns, with a fabulous line-up of judges including Jools Oliver, children's designer George Reddings, top stylists Yvadney Davis and Tracey Jacob and renowned children’s fashion photographer Abi Campbell.

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Amelie Honeybee Girls Silk Pyjama Set, £175.00

One brand that really stood out for everyone, was luxury silk Pyjama label, Sleepy Wilson, whose fabulous clashing striped nightwear with piped edging was a huge hit. Stylist Tracey Jacob and photographer Abi Campbell were particularly smitten with the brand and asked to be connected with the founder to discuss shooting the pieces with their own unique vision. A couple of phone calls from Junior's Editor to introduce them and the trio produced an incredible mini photo shoot that showcased Sleepy Wilson to perfection. We were just a little bit proud!

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Amelie Flamingo Stripe Girls Silk Pyjama Set, £175.00

We caught up with Paula to ask her how positive her experience of entering The Junior Design Awards was and if there had been a knock on effect for the brand.

Winning Gold at the Junior Design Awards this year has been a real game changer for us and given us so much exposure to new markets. On top of all the wonderful new contacts we’ve made, we are also now stocked in the USA and Ukraine! Having feedback from such reputable and experienced judges has been invaluable to the development of our brand.
Paula, founder of Sleepy Wilson

FANTASTIC! We couldn’t be more thrilled for Sleepy Wilson, who we know are not the only brand to experience the fantastic exposure and assurance that a Junior Design Awards brings in this crowded market.

Any other news we can keep an eye out for regarding Sleepy Wilson?

“We have a quite a few exciting things lined up this year (not much that I can openly discuss yet though sadly) - one is a partnership with a yarn supplier who is really leading the way in terms of natural innovative fibres and will allow us to introduce a new product category to the brand, we have also moved a lot of our production from China to Portugal and the UK where we are able to turn things around much more quickly and have more involvement with the development process. And some very exciting new products coming for AW21!”

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Bravo! Exciting times! We look forward to following Sleepy Wilson’s progress and continuing to nurture the brand. As with all our winners, we take a special interest in every new collection or collaboration and feature them in our editorial content and on our social channels as much as possible. Could your brand be next on our radar?

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Amelie Flamingo Stripe Girls Silk Pyjama Set, £175.00
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Accessories Gift Set in Honeybee, £79.00

>> All photographs taken by Abi Campbell and styled by Tracey Jacob

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