NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — It’s considered the Oscars of the toy industry. The Toy of The Year awards and Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held in New York City Saturday.
The annual awards ceremony, which was held at the Grand Hyatt New York on 42nd Street, is hosted by the Toy Industry Association, 1010 WINS reported.
“We are going to be giving a bunch of awards – from people’s choice to toy of the year, game of the year, outdoor toy of the year, and many, many more,” said Adrienne Appell, spokesperson for Toy Industry Association.
From early-September through mid-October, members of the toy industry nominated toys, games, and licensed properties for consideration in the 2014 Toy of the Year awards.
More than 520 submissions were received, the Toy Industry Association said.
So what does it take to be considered a member of the toy industry and have your vote counted? Nomination committees consisted of play experts, journalists, academics, retailers, and other toy experts for each category.
The Toy of The Year awards is also the launch event ahead of the American International Toy Fair, which opens Sunday.
The American International Toy Fair is billed as “the largest toy and youth product marketplace in the Western Hemisphere, bringing together more than 1,000 exhibiting manufacturers, distributors, importers and sales agents from around the globe to showcase their toy and entertainment products,” according to the Toy Industry Association’s website.
“We expect 30,000 people to come to toy fair, so, TOTY is really the kick off to that,” Appell said.
The toy fair is held at the Javits Convention Center and runs through Wednesday, Feb. 19.
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Filed under: Heard On 1010 WINS, WCBS, WFAN, Local, News, NY News, Radio.com - News, Syndicated Local, Watch + Listen Tagged: American International Toy Fair, Toy Industry Association, Toy Of The Year Awards 
