AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL TOY FAIR, NEW YORK (February 18, 2016) – LEGO Systems, Inc., the North American division of the world’s leading construction toy manufacturer, was honored with three Toy of the Year (T.OT.Y.) Awards, including the coveted overall Toy of the Year recognition. LEGO® Friends Amusement Park Roller Coaster garnered the top award of the night, overall Toy of the Year, and Construction Toy of the Year, while LEGO Disney won the Specialty Toy category. The awards were presented at the Toy Industry Association’s annual gala to celebrate the best and most innovative toys, held Friday, February 17 in New York City.
“We are honored that LEGO sets have been named the gold standard in their respective categories and thrilled with the recognition from the industry and consumers alike,” said Michael McNally, senior director, brand relations at LEGO Systems. “It is particularly satisfying as we celebrate the 5th anniversary of the mini-doll introduction that a LEGO Friends building set is named the overall Toy of the Year for 2016. Our designers will continue to deliver innovative and relevant building experiences to children of all ages and interests across the entire LEGO portfolio.”
2016 Toy of the Year and Construction Toy of the Year: LEGO Friends Amusement Park Roller Coaster
The LEGO Friends Amusement Park Roller Coaster is filled with detailed functions and accessories including a functioning roller coaster track, a drop tower, a mini-doll activated light-up brick and a spinning Ferris wheel with swinging gondolas. Providing builders with realistic characters, highly detailed interior elements and a rich storyline LEGO Friends has been successful in inviting many more children to try LEGO building.
Specialty Toy of the Year: LEGO Disney Castle
The highly-detailed LEGO Disney Castle features over 4,000 pieces to create a replica of the iconic Walt Disney World® Resort Cinderella Castle. Each accessible castle room includes special features inspired by some of Disney’s greatest animated feature films, providing endless play possibilities with the included minifigures: Mickey Mouse, Minni Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck and Tinker Bell.
Toy finalists were selected from nearly 600 submitted toys, games and properties by nomination committees comprised of journalists, toy trend experts, play therapists, toy inventors and designers, and toy retailers. Consumers were also invited to cast their votes online in each of the categories, as well as for the overall "Toy of the Year" award in an effort to celebrate the creativity and innovation of the toy industry.
The LEGO tradition of innovation has been recognized with 19 T.O.T.Y. Awards since the program was established in 2000, including honors for LEGO NINJAGO™, BIONICLE®, LEGO Harry Potter™, LEGO Soccer, LEGO & Steven Spielberg MovieMaker Set, CLIKITS™, LEGO KNIGHTS’ KINGDOM™, LEGO Star Wars™, LEGO City, LEGO MINDSTORMS® NXT 2.0, LEGO Friends, LEGO Fusion, LEGO Juniors and LEGO Architecture , in categories of most innovative toy, best boys’ toy, best girls’ toy, educational toy, activity toy of the year, specialty toy and overall toy of the year.
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About the LEGO Group
The LEGO Group is a privately held, family-owned company with headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and main offices in Enfield, USA, London, UK., Shanghai, China, and Singapore. Founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, and based on the iconic LEGO® brick, it is one of the world's leading manufacturers of play materials. Guided by the company spirit: "Only the best is good enough”, the company is committed to the development of children and aims to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through creative play and learning. LEGO products are sold worldwide and can be virtually explored at www.LEGO.com.
LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Friends logo, the Minifigure, the Minifigures logo, NINJAGO, the NINJAGO logo and the brick and knob configuration are trademarks of the LEGO Group. © 2017 the LEGO Group.