Toy companies, inventors, retailers and others are invited to nominate contenders. All submissions should include a brief (50 word) description plus a statement (up to 300 words) explaining why the product or property is deserving of recognition on the TOTY Awards ballot. Products must have been introduced to the marketplace within the last two years and must be available at retail in the U.S. on or before November 24, 2014. Each submission is $75 for TIA members and $125 for TIA non-members.

Nomination committees comprised of up to 15 experts, including journalists, academics, retailers, and other toy experts will select which of the hundreds of nominees will be chosen as finalists. They will consider each product’s creativity, originality and innovation; design and promotion; excellence of product; and marketplace acceptance. 

On November 24^th, the finalists will be revealed at a press event in New York City and five ballots will launch – for Consumers, Retailers (one each for mass and specialty), Media, and TIA members – which will each be weighted and used to determine the TOTY 2015 winners. On that day, public voting will open at ToyAwards.org through mid-January 2015.

One winner in each category – as well as the overall “Toy of the Year” and the “People’s Choice Award” (based solely on votes from the general public) – will be announced at the Toy of the Year awards ceremony on February 13, 2015 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. This event will kick off Toy Fair week with a celebration that will honor the most outstanding new toy products to hit the marketplace, salute the industry icons being inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame, and support the inspiring work of theToy Industry Foundation.