People of Play (POP) has named the 2023 finalists for its 16th annual Toy & Game International Excellence (TAGIE) Awards, and voting is now open to the public through Oct. 20. These awards honor the most innovative inventors, designers, suppliers, retailers, marketers, and PR teams in the toy and game industry.
Winners in nine categories will receive their TAGIE awards on Nov. 3 at Joe’s Live Concert Venue in Rosemont, Illinois. In addition, POP will honor Michael Gramelspacher, Jon Harter, and SG Labs, Club Organizers for St. Clare School Innovator Club, as well as Tara McGrath, Creative Director, Inventor Relations and Innovations, Mattel, as Game Changers: Unsung Heroes.
“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,” says Karri Bean, TAGIE Awards Host and Senior Manager, Licensing 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!”
Tickets for the event can be purchased at eventbrite.com. Visit peopleofplay.com to cast your vote.
TOY INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR
- Spin Master’s Innovation Team for Bitzee
- FUSE and Mattel’s Hot Wheels Team for the Hot Wheels City T-Rex 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 Transforming Rhinomite R/C Vehicle
- IDEO for Mindware’s Bubble Barista
- Spin Master’s PAW Patrol Design Team for PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie toy product line
- Choon’s Design Team for Rainbow Loom Loomies and Beadmoji
- Marvel and Jazwares Product Design Team for Spider-Rex and Venomosaurus Inflatable Costumes
- Amy Holden, Karlos Garcia, Lucie Lamham, Josep Pastor, Rebecca Grzesiek, Marta Bracia for World Alive Freak Marbles
- WowWee’s Sydney Wiseman for MINTiD Dog-E
GAME INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR
- Fun-damental Invention’s Gary Pyper, Stacey Pyper, and Toby Kinsey. Collaborators include John Wallis, Jacqui Gahan for TOMY’s Pillow Bash, University Games’ Irritable Vowels, Hachette’s Art Challenge, Dujardin’s Poseidon, Bizak’s Burger Boom, Golden Bear’s Farty Freddie, Martinex’s Dog + Doughnut, Fat Brain Toys’ Make That Most Magnificent Thing, and 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’ Escape Room: The Game — The Golden Solution
- KID Group for Goliath Beat Blast and Gotta Go Gecko, Buffalo Games’ Pop It! Pro and Pop It! Go, ThinkFun/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
- Scott Brown and Tim Swindle for PaddleSmash
- Christian Castro, Nicole Christenson, Emma Miller, Silviana Henriquez, Isabel Steckel, Kai Hovland, and Margaret Seleznev for Relatable’s (formerly What Do You Meme) 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 Games 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 and Kenny Zetterberg for Dungeons & Dragons: The Yawning Portal
- Emily Nichol and Priya Gill for Sun Moon Rising 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 and FAO Schwarz for the launch of the first FAO Day! Celebrating FAO Schwarz 160th Anniversary
- Hasbro’s Crystal Flynn, Stacy Forgang, and Caleigh Crocker for Furby
- Spin Master’s Bitzee PR and Marketing Team for the 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 MINTiD Dog-E
- Hasbro’s Crystal Flynn, Stacy Forgang, Caleigh Crocker for the reimagined Clue game
- 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: The Movie and 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 Rubik’s Influencer Box
- Jeff Lawber for Marmals
- Eolo Toys’ Mari Luz Riu for Biggies
- Lethal Chicken Games’ Alex Mackey, Mike Szalajko, and Laura Messing for Yeti Snowbrawl
- Furby’s Design & Development Team for 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’ Alejandro Garcia for Design & Drill Bolt Buddies Bulldozer — Packaging
MOST INNOVATIVE SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR
- The Nuccio Family and the Team at Design Edge
- 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, and Julien Seafort
- Wai Or and the Toy & Game Manufacturing Team at Longshore
- Sally and 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, Tennessee
- 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 & Teller Magic Lab Virtual Reality
- Mattel and Barbie Licensing, Consumer Products, and Product Teams for Barbie: The Movie
- Nickelodeon and Funrise for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Pizza Fire Van
- Disney Consumer Products – Disney 100 Hundred Years of Wonder
- Playside and Spin Master Games’ Sam Susz for Dumb Ways to Die
- Funko Games and Hasbro for Cranium 25th Anniversary Edition
- Just Playing Games’ Leo Taylor, Duvey Rudow, and George Feledichuk for Dungeons & Dragons: Bedlam In Neverwinter
- Jazwares and Relatable’s Christian Castro, Nicole Christenson, Emma Miller, Silviana Henriquez, Isabel Steckel, Kai Hovland, Margaret Seleznev, and Alex Uballe for Squishmallows Take4
- Marvel and Jazwares for Spider-Rex and Venomosaurus Inflatable Costumes
- Disney and Just Play for Disney Doorables
YOUNG INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR
- Zoe Oli for Beautiful Curly Me
- Jory Cappel and Rowan Cappel for Diced Vegetables
- Jimmy Zhang for the MapGoMap game
