REMINDER: Nominate Your Top Toys, Games, & Licenses for TOTY ‘18

August 23, 2017 | Toy companies, inventors, and other industry representatives are reminded to submit their toy, game, and license nominations for the 2018 Toy of the Year (TOTY) Awards.  The nomination deadline is Wednesday, September 20.

Known as the “Oscars” of the toy industry, the TOTY Awards celebrate the most creative and innovative playthings of the year, with proceeds benefiting the Toy Industry Foundation, which donates toys to children in need. New for 2018 are several new or renamed categories, including Playset of the Year and Creative Toy of the Year. An overview of the awards program, the nomination and selection process, and the 2018 categories can be found at www.TOTYAwards.org.

Once the nominations are in, a group of 25 toy and play experts, retailers, inventors, academics, and journalists, will review and rank the submitted products in specific categories that are relevant to their areas of expertise. They will consider each product’s creativity and originality; design and quality; play value; and marketing and promotion, before meeting in person to discuss and determine the roster of finalists.

Finalists will be announced to media, bloggers, and industry professionals at Play Fair’s new Industry Preview Night, to be held Friday, November 3, the night before Play Fair opens to the general public. At that time, voting will open for retailers, media, Toy Association members, and consumers (at ToyAwards.org) and remain open through January 5, 2018.

TOTY winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on Friday, February 16, 2018 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City. The event will kick off New York Toy Fair week and include the Toy Industry Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

For more information, visit the TOTY website or email toty@toyassociation.org.