Parents' Choice Award | |
---|---|
Awarded for | Excellence in children's products |
Country | United States |
Presented by | Parents' Choice Foundation |
First awarded | 1978–2022 |
Website | parents-choice |
The Parents' Choice Award was an award presented by the non-profit Parents' Choice Foundation to recognize "the very best products for children of different ages and backgrounds, and of varied skill and interest levels." [1] It was considered a "prestigious" award among children's products, [2] and had been described by the Cincinnati Enquirer as the industry equivalent of an Academy Award. [3]
The Parents' Choice Awards were established in 1978 by Diana Huss Green, who was then the president of the Parents' Choice Foundation. [4] [5] The mission was to provide guidance to parents on children’s books and toys. [6] The award recipients were determined by a committee of educators, scientists, performing artists, librarians, parents and children. One of six award commendations were given to award winners: Classic, Gold, Silver, Recommended, Approved or "Fun Stuff." [1]
JumpStart was an educational media franchise created for children, primarily consisting of educational games. The franchise began with independent developer Fanfare Software's 1994 video game JumpStart Kindergarten. The series was expanded into other age groups and beyond games to include workbooks, direct-to-video films, mobile apps, and other media under the ownership of Knowledge Adventure, which later assumed the name JumpStart Games.
Play-Doh or also known as Play-Dough is a modeling compound for young children to make arts and crafts projects. The product was first manufactured in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, as a wallpaper cleaner in the 1930s. Play-Doh was then reworked and marketed to Cincinnati schools in the mid-1950s. Play-Doh was demonstrated at an educational convention in 1956 and prominent department stores opened retail accounts.
The ClueFinders is an educational software series aimed at children aged 8–12 that features a group of mystery-solving teenagers. The series was created by The Learning Company as a counterpart to their Reader Rabbit series for older, elementary-aged students. The series has received praise for its balance of education and entertainment, resulting in numerous awards.
Kenner Products, known simply as Kenner, was an American toy brand owned by Hasbro. Kenner Products began as a toy company founded in 1946, going on to produce several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines including action figures for the original series of Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Batman as well as die cast models.
The Cincinnati Enquirer is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the Enquirer is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, although the daily Journal-News competes with the Enquirer in the northern suburbs. The Enquirer has the highest circulation of any print publication in the Cincinnati metropolitan area. A daily local edition for Northern Kentucky is published as The Kentucky Enquirer. The Enquirer won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting for its project titled "Seven Days of Heroin".
Walnut Hills High School is a public college-preparatory high school in Cincinnati, Ohio. Operated by Cincinnati Public Schools, it houses grades seven through twelve. The school was established in 1895 and has occupied its current building since 1932.
Reader Rabbit is an educational video game franchise created in 1984 by The Learning Company. The series is aimed at children from infancy to the age of nine. In 1998, a spiritual successor series called The ClueFinders was released for older students aged seven to twelve.
Ruth Lyons was a pioneer radio and television broadcaster in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is said Ruth Lyons accidentally invented the daytime TV talk show. Like Arthur Godfrey and others of the era, Lyons built a TV empire.
Sharon Mills Draper is an American children's writer, professional educator, and the 1997 National Teacher of the Year. She is a two-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for books about the young and adolescent African-American experience. She is known for her Hazelwood and Jericho series, Copper Sun,Double Dutch, Out of My Mind and Romiette and Julio.
Lois Rosenthal was an American author, publisher, arts & humanities philanthropist, and community volunteer. She was based in Cincinnati, Ohio. She served on the boards of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Freestore Foodbank, Art Links, Cincinnati Museum Center, and the Mercantile Library of Cincinnati. She was known for her hands-on philosophy of service in her community and was named Enquirer Woman of the Year in 1999 by The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Stevanne Auerbach, also known as Dr. Toy, was an American educator, child development expert, writer and toyologist. She was best known for being an expert on as well as an advocate of toys, play and the toy industry. After more than fifty years in the field of toys, she was named one of seven Wonder Women of Toys in 2007 by Women in Toys and Playthings magazine. She was a frequent guest speaker on toys and play for all ages at industry, professional, parent and public meetings. She made several public appearances each year to promote her causes, which include building greater awareness in parents of their essential role as play tutors for their children, the educational, and many other benefits of play, and to encourage the enhancement of play value and high standards of quality, safety, and protection of creativity in toys within the toy industry.
Kids in Danger (KID) is an American non-profit dedicated to educating parents, training engineers, designers, and manufacturers, and advocating for improvements in children's product safety in cribs, toys, bathtub seats, bunk beds, car seats, carriers, costumes, crib bumpers, high chairs, gates, play yards, strollers, walkers, and other potentially dangerous items. Its website supplies listings of products recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and provides suggestions and information on how to protect children. KID also works alongside other groups such as the Consumer Federation of America and Consumer Reports in order to improve product safety.
Jimmy Ray Flynt is the co-founder of Hustler. Flynt has been tried alongside his brother Larry Flynt (1942–2021) in many battles involving the First Amendment − most notably in 1977 for obscenity charges in Cincinnati, Ohio. Larry was convicted; Jimmy was acquitted. Larry's conviction was later overturned.
During 1999 and 2000, Burger King and the Consumer Product Safety Commission held an effort to recall plastic containers resembling Poké Balls in the United States after it was determined they presented a suffocation hazard.
The Oppenheim Toy Portfolio is a nationally recognized independent consumer review of children's media. It was founded in 1989 by child development authors Joanne Oppenheim and her daughter Stephanie Oppenheim. The newsletter is published quarterly and have held an annual series of awards that have gained attention in the industry. They have spoken on children psychology/behavior, toys, and child media on OPRAH, CNN, NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, MSNBC, Lifetime, and both are Contributors to NBC's TODAY Show.
Lego Ninjago is a Lego theme that was created in 2011 and a flagship brand of The Lego Group. It is the first theme to be based on ninjas since the discontinuation of the Lego Ninja theme in 2000. It was produced to coincide with the animated television series Ninjago, which was superseded in 2023 by a new series titled Ninjago: Dragons Rising.
Russell "Russ" Wilson was an American politician and newspaper editor. He was the mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio from 1930 to 1937. He was a founder of Sigma Sigma honor society in 1898.
Squishmallows is a brand of stuffed toy that was launched in 2017 by Kelly Toys Holdings LLC and is owned by Jazwares, a Berkshire Hathaway company. Squishmallows are round and come in a variety of colors, sizes, animals, and textures. The brand has created over 3,000 Squishmallows styles.
Lovevery is an American company based in Boise, Idaho that produces Montessori-inspired toys and play-kit subscription boxes for children. It is a certified B Corporation.