These nominees for the annual Toy & Game Inventor of the Year (TAGIE) Awards in the categories of toy design, game design, young inventor, and rising star were selected by industry colleagues. Now the public is invited to place their votes before the annual award show taking place in November as part of the 11th Annual Chicago Toy & Game Fair.
The 2013 TAGIE Award nominees are as follows:
Excellence in Toy Design
- Bruce Lund, inventor of the Dino Construction Company Line
- Cheong Choon Ng, inventor of Rainbow Loom
- Jon Paul Capriola, inventor of ZippyDo
- Sean Frawley, inventor of Aero Force Flight Designs: “Ultra-Light/Extended Flight” Gliders/ Wind Ups/ Power Gliders
- Wim Ouboter, inventor of Microlino Airseat Hybrid
Rising Star Designer
- Ali Kermani, inventor of Razor Crazy Cart
- Andrew Comfort, inventor of Q-BA Maze
- Ashley Mady, inventor of Scanimalz
- Debra Sterling, inventor of Goldie Blox
- Luke Hooper, inventor of Laser Maze
Game Inventor of the Year
- Mark Setteducati, inventor of HolograFX
- Matt Leacock, inventor of Forbidden Desert
- Rebecca Bleau and Nicholas Cravotta, inventors of BlueMatter Games
- Tom Quinn, inventor of Game of Things
Young Inventor of the Year
- Ben Guillot, inventor of MasterKitz inspired by Monet’s Water Lilies
- Ishmael King, inventor of King of 20
- Michael Curshellas, inventor of Mission Unboxable
- Nick Metzler, inventor of Squashed!
- William Georges, inventor of Pezo Pals
Excellence in Electronic Toy or Game Design
- Activision, Skylanders Swap Force
- Brendan Boyle, IDEO and the Leapfrog team: Audrey Donaldson, Clement Chau, Raphael Kerley and Sarah Baskin, inventors of Creativity Camera App & Case
- Caleb Chung, Dan Judkins, Dave Hampton, Kenny Davis, Richard Levy and their team, inventors of Furby Boom
- Dan Klitsner and KID Group, inventors of BopIt! Tetris
- Disney, inventor of Disney Infinity
Honorees from five closed categories, including Excellence in Character Design, Excellence in Inventor Advocacy, Lifetime Achievement, Hassenfeld Family Humanitarian Award, and In Memoriam, will also be awarded.
The awards will take place on November 22 from 6 to 10 p.m. in the historic Grand Ballroom at Navy Pier. Voting for the 2013 TAGIE Awards is available to the public through November 1, and members of the public are invited to cast their votes for the best toy and game inventors here.
