The seventeenth annual New York Toy Fair (NYTF) concluded on 21st February. On the concluding day, the Toy of the Year awards were handed out to 14 recipients who comprised of the industry’s top playthings and of course the reigning supremo, Lego which took home the coveted Toy of the Year award for its Lego Friends Amusement Park Roller Coaster
.
Lego’s win comes on the heels of launching a social network for under-13s, The Lego Batman Movie that took the number one position at the box office. Amusement Park Roller Coaster also showed up on both Amazon’s and the UK Toy Retailer Association’s prediction lists for the best holiday toys.
Spin Master’s Catchalls which recently won the UK Toy Industry Association’s Toy of the Year award was given the Innovative Toy of the Year Award at the stateside ceremony.
Another big winner of the award do was Funko’s Pop! figurines which scored the People’s Choice Award.
Winners were selected from a total of 700 finalists that were nominated by 25 judges including toy and play experts, retailers, academics and journalists.
Three industry veterans namely Peter Elio, former president of Lego Systems, Ray Larsen, founder of RLA Marketing and Sydney Rosen, former chairman of Rose-Art Industries were also inducted in the Toy Industry Hall of Fame who joined 71 members including Jim Henson and Georgre Lucas.
