The 15th Annual Toy of the Year (TOTY) Awards ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. on February 13 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. The evening event, which kicks off the North American International Toy Fair, will include a cocktail networking reception with hors d’oeuvres and dinner, followed by the awards ceremony.
Over the course of the event, presenters will announce the TOTY winners in 12 categories, as well as the People’s Choice Award, which is based solely on consumer votes, and the overall Toy of the Year Award, which is selected by mass and specialty retailers, journalists, and Toy Industry Association (TIA) members. The winners will be chosen from more than 600 products submitted for consideration during the open call for nominations this fall. Voting is currently open for all TOTY finalists at www.toyawards.org.
The awards presentation will also include the induction of two individuals into the esteemed Toy Industry Hall of Fame: Pat Feely, chairman of the Toy Industry Foundation and retired CEO of Radica Games, and the late Leslie Berger, founder of Cardinal Industries.
Registration will open on the TIA website on January 7. Any questions about the evening may be directed to TIA’s Jackie Retzer at jretzer@toyassociation.org.