The winners for the ninth annual Toy & Game Innovation (TAGIE) Awards were announced at a gala on Navy Pier in Chicago on Friday night. The TAGIE Awards paid tribute to toy and game inventors from around the world, and excellence was recognized in the Toy Innovator, Game Innovator, Rising Star Innovator, and Digital Toy or Game Innovator categories. Industry colleagues and the public selected the winners.

The evening’s events included a keynote address by Nancy Zwiers, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Spin Master, and culminated with Lifetime Achievement Awards being given to David Small and Paul Rago of Shoot the Moon.

Scroll down to see the winners and nominees below.

GAME INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR
Don Ullman and Bob Driscoll for Don’t Step In It by Hasbro

  • Bang Zoom for Chow Crown from Hasbro
  • Jeff Foxworthy for Relative Insanity from PlayMonster
  • Rob Daviau and Justin D. Jacobson for Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar by Restoration Games
  • Seven Towns for Greedy Granny by Goliath Games

TOY INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR
David Fuhrer, Richard Kimbrough, DiscoNifty for Twisty Petz by Spin Master

  • Bang Zoom for Lil’ Gleemerz by Mattel
  • Latham Gaines – Power Dough by Canal Toys
  • Shoot The Moon for NERF Laser Ops by Hasbro
  • Sydney Wiseman for Fingerlings by WowWee

RISING STAR OF THE YEAR
Nick Metzler of Spin Master for Hail Hydra

  • Adam Borton for Flushin’ Frenzy by Mattel
  • Art, Joe & Jim Seymour for Circuit Blox, Power Blox, and Story Blox by eblox
  • Daryl Andrews for The Oregon Trail by Pressman Toy/Goliath Games
  • Jeff Lai for Maki Stack by Blue Orange
  • Jillian Lakritz for Yoee Baby Original Line: Puppy, Kitty, Fox, Lion, Monkey, Bunny
  • Krissa Watry for playPORTAL by Dynepic
  • Marissa Louie for Animoodles: Iris Unicorn, Hazel Sloth, Randy Orangutan, Brady Lion, Miguel Frog, Sophie Elephant

INNOVATIVE ARTS and VISUALS OF THE YEAR
Elan Lee and Matt Inman of Exploding Kittens for Bears vs Babies

  • Geizi Guevara, Mike Freeth, Patrick Murray, Chris Wickman of Spin Master for The Cat Game
  • Jakks Pacific for Fan Heads
  • Prospero Hall for Disney Villainous by WonderForge
  • Sabrina Miramon (Illustration), Chris D’Angelo, Greg Stata, Kelly Miele (Graphic/Packaging Design) and Kathy Beyerle (Product Design) of ThinkFun for Shadows in the Forest

INNOVATIVE MARKETING TEAM OF THE YEAR
Sydney Wiseman for Fingerlings by WowWee

  • JMP Creative’s Social Media Team for Orbeez Wow World Campaign with Maya Toys
  • PlayMonster 5 Second Rule Marketing Team for 5 Second Rule
  • Lee Parkhurst, Jennifer Jens, Sunny Choi, Nicole Younger of Educational Insights for Sculptapalooza’s Online Campaign
  • Hasbro Marketing and Rhett and Link for their online Influencer video campaign

YOUNG INVENTOR OF THE YEAR (Sponsored by Mattel)
Harper Miller for The Dream Pillow by Architec Brands

In addition to the winners determined through nominations and public voting, honors were given in the following closed categories:

  • Inventor Advocacy Honoree: Mike Meyers (Sponsored by Hasbro)
  • Lifetime Achievement Award: David Small and Paul Rago of Shoot the Moon (Sponsored by Mattel)
  • Hassenfeld Family Humanitarian Award: #MyShotAtEpilepsy Challenge (Sponsored by Hassenfeld Family Initiatives)
  • Start-Up of the Year: Jochem van Rijn and Thijmen de Schipper of Yulu Toys
  • Most Innovative Toy Store: Leslie & John Chiaverini of Adventure Toys & Teachers’ Supplies (Sponsored by ASTRA)

About the author

Jackie Cucco

Jackie Cucco

Jackie Cucco was a Senior Editor of The Toy Book, The Toy Insider, and The Pop Insider. She covered toy trends, pop culture, and entertainment news, and made appearances on national and regional outlets, including CBS, WPIX, News 12, and more. Jackie spends her time watching horror movies and working her way through every Stephen King novel out there.

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