We started the week with unsurprising news: KPop Demon Hunters emerged from the Golden Globes with Best Animated Picture and Best Song. How quickly one film can go from shocking sleeper success story to inevitable steamroller. It’s all but guaranteed to succeed all awards season, so we’re leaving it out of the Gold Star race for now—at least until it walks away with an Oscar or two.

In the meantime, let’s check out who else won big this week. Don’t forget to cast your vote below!

Dave Filoni & Lynwen Brennan: Kind of like the Light Side and the Dark Side of the Force, these two are going to be the creative and business sides of Star Wars in the wake of Kathleen Kennedy stepping down as president of Lucasfilm. Fans are ecstatic about the cowboy-hat-totin’ Filoni, who created the animated shows Clone Wars and Rebels. He’s seen as a keeper of George Lucas’s quirky original vision—at least compared with the pragmatic Kennedy. Now that she’s thrown Filoni the keys to the Falcon, here’s hoping he knows just where to smack it to make the brand soar. 

Pam Kaufman: The former Paramount titan has a brand-new outfit. After leading a billion-dollar consumer products business, Kaufman is suiting up for a new position at apparel giant Gap, where she’ll oversee its transformation into a “fashiontainment” company that expands into music, TV and CP partnerships. She’s reporting to CEO Richard Dickson, who himself helped turn Barbie into a multimedia empire. Can Kaufman do the same for Gap? If anybody can, it’s the person who turned a talking sponge into one of the world’s biggest brands.

Starglow Media: Jed Baker’s passion-project kids podcast network is now a super-awesome company. And we’re not just giving a compliment; Starglow was acquired by kids techco SuperAwesome this week after hitting some remarkable milestones in less than three years (like 120 million-plus annual listens and several Nickelodeon partnerships). SuperAwesome couldn’t ignore this fast-rising star and jumped on the chance to move its multi-channel system connecting brands with kids into the audio space. We’ve got our eyes (and ears) open for what’s next.

Wow! Stuff: Sometimes bigger isn’t always better, and this UK-based toyco is planning to prove that with new palm-sized versions of its flagship Puppetronics products. With consumers skittish and pricey interactive plush trending downward, Wow! Stuff said, let’s make ’em cheaper—so it’s rolling out an affordable mini-sized Stitch, the licensed character that won them Toy of the Year in 2023. Despite shrinking down all the tech, the tiny Stitch toy will have even more features than its bulkier RealFX big brother, including the ability to converse with other SKUs in the line. And unlike some talking plush toys flooding the market, this one probably won’t teach your kids Chinese Communist Party propaganda.

Xilam Animation: The studio’s triangle of love and violence will continue. That’s right, Zig & Sharko, Xilam’s animated Road Runner-style comedy about a hyena who wants to eat a mermaid and the shark who will stop at nothing to protect her, officially got the go-ahead from French broadcaster M6’s Gulli for seasons five and six. Not bad for a toon that debuted more than 15 years ago. Credit to Xilam for nurturing the show into the YouTube crown jewel in its catalogue and achieving consistent global sales with its oh-so-reliable slapstick formula. 

But who had the best week of all? Vote here:

Want to pitch us a Gold Star nomination? Send an email to submissions@kidscreen.com by noon on Thursdays. And check back every Friday for our next batch of nominees. Hope to see you on the list!