PEOPLE OF PLAY ANNOUNCE FINALISTS FOR THE

2023 TOY & GAME INTERNATIONAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS

 TAGIE Voting Now Open Through October 20th, 2023

CHICAGO (September 21, 2023) - Finalists for the prestigious TAGIE Awards have been announced by People of Play (POP). The TAGIEs, now in its 16th year, honor the most innovative inventors, designers, suppliers, retailers, marketers and PR teams in the toy and game industry. Public voting starts today, Thursday, September 21 and ends on October 20, 2023. Visit the TAGIE Awards Finalist page to learn about the finalists and cast your vote.

Winners in nine categories will receive their TAGIE crystal engraved awards on November 3, 2023, in front of a live audience of their peers at Joe’s Live Concert Venue.  Tickets can be purchased HERE. 

“We are excited to kick off the holidays by shining a light on the innovators that inspire us, and who are the beating heart of the toy industry,” said Karri Bean, TAGIE Awards Host and Senior Licensing Manager, at Disney Consumer Products, Experiences and Consumer Products. “You all inspire us daily. The TAGIEs are our opportunity to give back and celebrate your accomplishments. Mark your calendars!”

Alongside the nine winners, People of Play will also honor for Games Changers: Unsung Heroes

• Michael Gramelspacher, Jon Harter, & SG Labs for Club Organizers for St. Clare School Innovator Club
• Tara McGrath. Creative Director, Inventor Relations and Innovations, Mattel

Congratulations to all the 2023 innovative and inspiring finalists listed by category below:

TOY INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

• Spin Master's Innovation Team for BITZEE
• FUSE and Mattel's Hot Wheels Team for The Hot Wheels City Ultimate Hauler
• Pixlings Team at Moose Toys for Magic Mixies Pixlings
• Sara Farber, Bryan Wilson and Will Sakran for Burstin’ Bubble Clouds with Funrise and Rescue Tales Tickle Pup with MGA/Little Tikes
• FAO Schwarz's Design Team led by Sam McCellan for The Fabulous Family Mansion Luxury Dollhouse and the Pottery Wheel Studio All-In-One Sculpting Workstation
• PACE Development Group and Mattel Hot Wheels Team for Hot Wheels Monster Trucks HW Transforming Rhinomite RC
• IDEO for Mindware's Bubble Barista
• Spin Master's Paw Patrol Design Team for The Mighty Movie Toy Product Line
• Rainbow Loom®'s Choon Design Team for Loomies™ and Beadmoji™
• Marvel and Jazwares Product Design Team for Spider- Rex and Venomosaurus Inflatable Costume
• Amy Holden, Karlos Garcia, Lucie Lanham, Josep Pastor, Rebecca Grzesiek, Marta Gracia for World's Alive Freak Marbles
• WowWee's Sydney Wiseman for MINTiD just for you, uncrate Dog-E

GAME INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

• Fun-damental invention's Gary Pyper, Stacey Pyper, Toby Kinsey. Collaborators include John Wallis, Jacqui Gahan for TOMY’s Pillow Bash, University Game’s Irritable Vowels, Hachette’s Art Challenge, Dujardin’s Poseidon, Bizak’s Burger Boom, Golden Bear’s Farty Freddie, Martinex’s Dog+Dohnut, Fat Brain’s Make That (the most magnificent thing-the game) & Biggies with the Toyzone Team
• Kim Vandenbroucke for PlayMonster's Pigs on Trampolines
• David Yakos for Hasbro's Battleship Royale Party Game and Identity Games' The Golden Solution Card Game (for Escape Room The Game)
• KID Group for Goliath's Beat Blast and Gotta Go Gecko, Buffalo Games’ POP IT Electronic Game line (Pop It Pro and Pop It Go), Think Fun/Ravensburger’s FreeFall, Hasbro’s Crystal Caper, YULU’s Taco Smash, John Adams’ This Side Up
• Peggy Brown for John Adam's Smash Down, Lansay's Snap Trap and Go! Toys and Games' Who's the Goat
• Big Potato Team for Chicken vs Hotdog
• David Fuhrer, Rob Antonio, Brent Geppert for Educational Insights' Reel Big Catch Game
• Scott Brady for Boop with Smirk & Dagger
• The Marvel United Team for Marvel United: Multiverse with Spin Master, CMON and Marvel
• Joe Bingham, Scott Brown and Tim Swindle for PaddeSmash
• Christian Castro, Nicole Christenson, Emma Miller, Silviana Henriquez, Isabel Steckel, Kai Hovland and Margaret Seleznev for Relatable's Search Party: Chaos at the Park

RISING STAR INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

• Indy Toy Lab's Jordan Goddard for Blue Orange's Pawvocados and University Games' The Night Hunter
• Danielle Reynolds for Underdog Games' HerStory, Secret Clue: Animals and Scavenger Hunt: Animal Traits
• Disney's John "Cody" Hampton for Limited Edition Cal Kestis Legacy LIGHTSABER
• Liat Waks, Naama Weiss and Uri Streigold for Spin Master's Game HQ and Goliath's Ice Cream Meltdown
• Really Fun for Blooming Tongue Twisters, Halloween Trick-or-Treat Tongue Twisters, Santa's Tongue Twisters
• Lemonic Games' Kristian Karlberg & Kenny Zetterberg for Dungeons & Dragons: The Yawning Portal Game
• Emily Nichol & Priya Gill for Sun Moon Rising Game with Hasbro
• Pink Tiger Games' Ami Baio for Cloud Nine: A Game of Wonderful Things and Lost for Words: A Game of Untranslatable Feelings
• Harrison Brooks for Fourth Down
• Yarro's Studios' Tanner Yarro for FlipDie

MOST INNOVATIVE PR AND MARKETING TEAM OF THE YEAR

• Educational Insights' Lee Parkhurst, Sheena Wakely, Dezirae Clarke and Alyssa Weiss for Kanoodle® on TikTok
• PlayWise Partners & FAO Schwarz for Launch of the First-Ever FAO Day! Celebrating FAO Schwarz 160th Anniversary
• Hasbro's Crystal Flynn, Stacy Forgang and Caleigh Crocker for 25th Anniversary Furby
• Spin Master's Bitzee PR & Marketing Team for Launch of Bitzee
• LEGO and Disney Marketing Teams for the Making Wonder Series Campaign
• Jessica Kalichman, Sydney Wiseman, Andrew Yanofsky and Dave Malacrida for WowWee's Dog-E
• Hasbro's Crystal Flynn, Stacy Forgang, Caleigh Crocker for Reimagined Classic Clue
• Spin Master's Molly Zito, Drew Luster and Brian Hansen for “The Discard Pile” campaign for IF YOU KNOW YOU KNOW
• LEGO® DREAMZzz™ Campaign Marketing Team
• Mattel and Barbie PR and Marketing Team for Barbie Movie Promotion & Painting the World Pink

MOST INNOVATIVE ART AND DESIGN VISUALS OF THE YEAR

• Joshua Cappel and Claire Lin for KTBG - Kids Table Board Gaming's Diced Veggies
• Design Edge and Spin Master for Rubiks Influencer Box
• Jeff Lawber for Marmals
• Eolo Toy's Mari Luz Riu for the Biggies Brand
• Lethal Chicken Games' Alex Mackey, Mike Szalajko, Laura Messing for Yeti Snowbrawl
• Furby's Design & Development Team for 25th Anniversary Furby
• Anna Ten for Papaton Kids' Papaton Shadow Theater
• Mindware's Scott West for Bird Bash, Tightrope, Dig It Up! Shipwreck packaging and poster and graphics for Grey Duck line
• SayKid and McHale Design for The ToyBot Box Packaging
• Educational Insights' Sahad Riviera and Alejandro Garcia for Design & Drill® Bolt Buddies® Bulldozer - Packaging

MOST INNOVATIVE SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR

• The Nuccio Family and the Team at Design Edge, Inc.
• Allison Miller for Happy Camper Live
• Robert Yusim for Product Counsel
• Ben Goloff for Black Box Productions
• The Morrison Family and Team at SoSound
• Sweet Spot Studio's Jon Vanderbeek, Sarah Vanderbeek & Julien Seafort
• Wai Or and the Toy & Game Manufacturing Team at Longshore Ltd.
• Sally & Charles Albert and the Team at Creativity
• SCORE
• Grant Lyon for Grant's Game Recs

MOST INNOVATIVE RETAILER OF THE YEAR

• Theresa Duncan Villa Villekulla Neighborhood Toy Store
• FAO Schwarz
• Amy Saldanha for kiddywampus
• Leah Pickering for Kazoodles Toys
• David Middleton and Richard Derr, “Brothers in Retail”, Midco Toymaster (UK) and Lake Zurich’s Learning Express (US)
• Hilary Key for the Toy Chest in Nashville
• Julie Burczyk for Tools 4 Teaching
• Michael Kristula for Treasures Naperville
• Pat and Paula Fuge for Gnome Games

MOST INNOVATIVE LICENSE OF THE YEAR

• Abacus Brands and Penn & Teller for Penn and Teller Magic Lab Virtual Reality
• Mattel & Barbie Licensing, Consumer Products, and Product Teams for Barbie the Movie
• Nickelodeon and Funrise for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem Pizza Blaster RC
• Disney Consumer Products - Disney 100 Hundred Years of Wonder
• Playside and Spin Master Games' Sam Susz for Dumb Ways to Die the Game
• Funko Games and Hasbro for Cranium 25th Anniversary Edition
• Just Playing Games' Leo Taylor, Duvey Rudow, George Feledichuk for Dungeons & Dragons: Bedlam In Neverwinter
• Jazware’s and Relatable’s Christian Castro, Nicole Christenson, Emma Miller, Silviana Henriquez, Isabel Steckel, Kai Hovland, Margaret Seleznev & Alex Uballe for Squishmallows Take4
• Marvel and Jazwares for Spider- Rex and Venomosaurus Inflatable Costume
• Disney and Just Play for Doorables

YOUNG INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR (under 18 years old)

• Zoe Oli for Beautiful Curly Me
• Jory Cappel and Rowan Cappel for Diced Vegetables
• Jimmy Zhang for the MapGoMap game

Media Contacts:

Amy Friedland, Freeman PR, 973-470-0400, ext. 25 afriedland@freeanpr.com

Emily Potrzuski, Freeman PR, 973-470-0400, ext. 15 epotrzuski@freemanpr.com

Julia Amiano, Freeman PR, 908-377-2825, jamiano@freemanpr.com

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About People of Play

People of Play (POP) leads the global toy and game industry in promoting innovation, creativity, and connectivity. A one-stop source of community for industry professionals, aspiring inventors and people of all ages who love to play, People of Play hosts a wide range of events including the Chicago Toy & Game (CHITAG) Fair, the Toy & Game International Excellence (TAGIE) Awards, the Young Inventor Challenge, the Toy & Game International Summit, POP-pedia and the People of Play Foundation.

About the TAGIEs

Founded in 2008, the Toy & Game International Excellence Awards (TAGIEs) celebrate the outstanding achievements of toy and game industry leaders from around the world, by honoring masters of innovation and invention. The annual event also pays homage to industry professionals who differentiate themselves with their spirit for fun, philanthropy, inventor advocacy, creativity and humanitarianism. Inventors, designers, manufacturers, retailers, media and the general public come together for this prestigious annual gala event. The TAGIEs are hosted in the fall in conjunction with POP Week. For more information, visit https://www.chitag.com/2023-tagie-awards

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