2012 Designer Toy Awards announced!!!

Spotted over on ToysRevil was a very awesome post that revealed that the folks of at Clutter are gearing up for this years Designer Toy Awards. Last year was the inaugural year, and although there were a few kinks that needed to be worked out, the show itself was a ton of fun and it really does a great job of honoring all those hard working artists, companies, shops, etc. in our industry! That being said, SpankyStokes.com made the short-list last year... the top 5 blogs, but alas did not take home the top spot... but this year we are gunning for it :-) According to TRE, the public call for entries starts Monday, April 9th, 2012... and this year "anyone can anonymously submit an organization or individual for consideration, and entries will be reviewed by special nomination committees which will select the final five to ten nominees per category." Then, unlike last year, nominations will be officially announced during the SDCC in July 2012 and then the awards ceremony itself won't happen until NYCC in October. Now I understand why they are doing that, seeing as Clutter is based out of NYC, but really... I mean there will be so many more artists and companies in town for SDCC than NYCC. Maybe in 3-5 years if NYCC continues to grow, then I can see this being a viable solution... but not now... just my 2-cents. So I bet you are wondering what the categories are this yer... well:

TOY OF THE YEAR • BRAND OF THE YEAR (Previously Manufacturer of the Year) • OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION • BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST • BEST CUSTOMIZER • BEST MINI SERIES • BEST SELF-PRODUCED • BEST COLLABORATION • BEST LICENSED PRODUCT • BEST PLUSH DESIGN • BEST 1/6 SCALE • LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT • ARTIST OF THE YEAR • BEST BLOG • FAN FAVORITE • BEST ONLINE TOY STORE • BEST TOY STORE • BEST TOY FROM A COMIC • BEST DIY PLATFORM • BEST COLLECTION

So it looks like most of the same categories are in there from last go around, and it will be really interesting to see how the voting goes down. I am really stoked for this year, and for all of those soon to be nominated, best of luck to all! More info once we get it, and until then... head on over HERE to the DTA site to sign up now, so you can start nominating on Monday :-)

Source[ToysRevil]