THE CHICAGO TOY & GAME GROUP ANNOUNCES 2016 TOY & GAME INNOVATION AWARD NOMINEES
THE CHICAGO TOY & GAME GROUP ANNOUNCES 2016 TOY & GAME INNOVATION AWARD NOMINEES
CHICAGO, Ill. (October 4, 2016) – The nominees for the ninth annual Toy & Game Innovation (TAGIE) Awards (http://www.chitag.com/tagies) are in! At this year’s awards ceremony, excellence will be recognized in the categories of Digital/Toy Game Design, Game Design, Toy Design, and Rising Star Inventor. The nominees for these categories have been selected by their industry colleagues, and now the public is invited to place their votes before the annual award show takes place this November as part of the 14th Annual Chicago Toy & Game Fair.
The 2016 Toy & Game Inventor of the Year (TAGIE) Award nominees are:
EXCELLENCE IN DIGITAL TOY OR GAME DESIGN
Phoebe Hayman, Seedling for Maze
Don Stucke, Fisher-Price for Think & Learn Code-a-pillar
Don Inmon & Matt MacBeth, pi Lab for Edwin the Duck
Dan Klitsner, KID & Hasbro KIDS Gaming Team for Simon Air
Robin Rath & Josh Stevens, Pixel Press for Bloxels
Pramod Sharma, Tangible Play for Osmo
EXCELLENCE IN GAME DESIGN
Forrest-Pruzan Creative with Wonder Forge for Dr. Seuss Thing Two and Thing One Whirly Fun! and USAopoly for Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
Nicholas Cravotta & Rebecca Bleau, BlueMatter Games with ThinkFun for Escape the Room Series
Jeremy Posner, Big Monster Toys with FatBrain Toys for Coggy
Rob Daviau, Ironwall Games, co-designer of Pandemic: Legacy with Matt Leacock for Z-Man Games and for SeaFall with Plaid Hat Games
Mike Bisogno, designer at Cardinal Industries for Finding Dory and more
Graham Thornton & Hasbro Family Gaming Team for Pie Face Showdown
EXCELLENCE IN TOY DESIGN
Troy Fisher & Hasbro Yokai Watch Team, for Yo-Motion Yokai Watch
Michael Bernstein, Jakks Pacific for Gift’ems
Ali Kermani, Razor for RipSurf
David McDonald, Spin Master for Hatchimals
Peter Greenley & Nick Grisolia, G2Invention with Spin Master for Zoomer Chimp
Jim McCafferty, JMP Creative with Maya Group for PomPomWow Decoration Station
David Yakos, Steamline Design with Lionel Trains for Mega Tracks
RISING STAR INVENTOR OF THE YEAR
Brady Peterson, Pleyful with Marbles for Otrio
Julien Sharp, FunnyBone Toys for Anaxi
Andrena Baxter, InterPlay UK with PlayMonster for My Fairy Garden
Mikkel Bertelsen, with Marektoy for Klask
Alice Brooks, Roominates with PlayMonster for Cotton Candy Carnival
Ciaran Larkin, ourstanding designer in the Hasbro Fellowship Program
Ken Gruhl & Quentin Weir, with North Star Games for Happy Salmon
In addition to the public votes, honorees from five closed categories, including Excellence in Character Design, Hassenfeld Family Humanitarian Award, In Memoriam and Lifetime Achievement will also be awarded.
Paying tribute to toy and game inventors from around the world whose creative imaginations and playful inventions resulted in today’s most enjoyable play products; the TAGIE Awards will kick off the 2016 Chicago Toy & Game Fair weekend. The elegant and entertaining gala will bring together industry leaders including inventors, manufacturers and retailers, to celebrate the inventors behind the hottest and most innovative products of the year.
The winners of this year’s TAGIE Awards will take the stage to accept their awards on Friday, November 18, 2016, with a dinner beginning at 7 p.m. in the historic Grand Ballroom at Navy Pier. The evening will commence with a cocktail hour, followed by a seated dinner, the Awards Program, concluding with the PlayCHIC Fashion Show. This year’s fun-filled evening is sponsored by Hasbro (Presenting Sponsor), NBC Universal, Hassenfeld Family Initiatives, Toy Industry Association, Michael Kohner Corporation, Maya Group, McGill an Associates, The Playmakers, Peggy Brown Creative, Global Toy News, and Chicago Toy and Game Group.
Voting for the 2016 TAGIE Awards is open until November 1, 2016 at 11:59 p.m. Members of the media, industry and public are invited to cast their votes for the best toy and game inventors by visiting www.chitag.com/tagies-nominations.
Tickets to attend the 2016 TAGIE Awards are available for $250.00 and require registration through chitag.com/tagies.
For more information about Chicago Toy & Game Week events including ChiTAG 2016, the playCHIC Fashion Show, the Young Inventor Challenge and the TAGIE Awards Gala visit ChiTAG.com.
About the Chicago Toy & Game Group, Inc.
The Chicago Toy & Game Group, Inc. promotes and hosts initiatives designed to encourage and promote the power of play and invention in social, educational, and professional environments. Chicago Toy & Game Group initiatives include the Chicago Toy & Game Fair (ChiTAG), the Toy & Game Innovation Awards (the TAGIEs), Inventor Conferences for New and Professional Inventors and Product Acquisition Executives, the Young Inventor Challenge, the Young TECH Challenge, Play in Education Conference, DiscoverGames Inventor Co-op, the PlayCHIC Fashion Show, and the Chicago Toy & Game Foundation. For more information, visit www.ChiTAG.com.
