Category: Events

Now entering its 17th year, the TAGIE Awards, presented by People of Play (POP), will once again honor the best and brightest innovators, designers, retailers, suppliers, PR and marketers in the toy and game industry. Each year, the TAGIEs bring together the many communities that make up the larger industry of play, including professionals and fans from all over the world. This important recognition, honoring contribution, innovation, and spirit of community is the very heart of POP. Nominations are now open for the 2024 TAGIE Lifetime Achievement Award!

To celebrate the opening of Columbia Pictures/Alcon Entertainment’s The Garfield Movie in the UK, special preview screenings will take place in cinemas across the country on Sunday 12th May, ahead of its debut in cinemas via Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) on 24th May. SPE and participating cinemas are generously donating all income received from ticket sales to support the work of MediCinema.

The Halloween & Costume Association (HCA) is thrilled to announce the launch of the first annual Spooky Awards, an industry celebration of innovation, creativity, and all things Halloween! Open to Halloween product manufacturers, HCA members, and non-members alike, this thrilling event promises to be the pinnacle of the Halloween calendar. Steeped in the mystique of the season, the competition beckons to daring souls who weave new wonders. Eligible submissions include only fresh apparitions, newly conjured within the past year or set to materialize in the next ten moons. While prototypes are welcome, beware—prior incarnations haunting the market do not qualify. Only the freshest, most fiendish creations may ascend.

Family Entertainment Live, one of the world’s leading presenters of live family entertainment events, and Mattel, Inc (NASDAQ: MAT) a leading global toy company and owner of one of the strongest catalogs of children’s and family entertainment franchises in the world, announced record breaking performances of Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live Glow Party that took place this past weekend, April 13-14, 2024. The tour made its debut in Mexico as 70,027 guests attended four sold-out Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live Glow Party shows at Arena CDMX.

The Pokémon Company International has shared further details about the 2024 Pokémon World Championships, which will be held in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, this summer. Pokémon fans who attended the 2024 Pokémon Europe International Championships (EUIC) in London over the weekend, and those who followed the action via the official Pokémon livestream, were delighted to find out that the 2024 Pokémon World Championships will take place from August 16 to 18, 2024, at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. The artwork created especially for the event was also revealed, showing off Pikachu and friends on a snorkeling adventure.

Registration for AAHA Con (formerly known as Connexity) is available, and attendees should secure their registration by April 15th for the best price. Celebrating the every day “Superheroes” in veterinary medicine, the annual veterinary hospital conference will be held from September 12 to 14 at the prestigious Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. Open to veterinary professionals across the entire spectrum of the profession, AAHA Con will provide over 75 hours of continuing education (CE) credits in medical and practice management.

Licensing Expo, the world’s leading event (May 21-23, Mandalay Bay Convention Center), dedicated to licensing, brand extension and collaborations, unveils the inaugural Licensing Expo Closing Night Party with confirmed performance from international touring music duo Loud Luxury. Loud Luxury, Canadian-born Los Angeles-based music group duo, Andrew Fedyk and Joe De Paceon known for several independent releases and remixes, including the smash hit Body, are global icons. The song Body is certified diamond in Canada and multi-platinum across 9 countries, accumulating over 1.5 billion streams across all platforms. Since then, the duo released other hit singles such as Love No More and I’m Not Alright, collaborating with top artists from around the world, totaling over 400 million streams.

The finalists in the Product, Property, Retail and Rising Star categories for the Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards (B&LLAS) 2024 have officially been revealed. The B&LLAs attracted the largest ever number of entries this year, from companies large and small. And, not only was the volume of entries staggering, but the quality was also of the highest level.

Hasbro, Inc, a leading toy and game company, has announced its Hasbro Women Innovators of Play 2024 lineup of events, networking moments, and other opportunities to celebrate and connect women toy and game innovators across the globe. Hasbro’s Women Innovators of Play launched in Fall 2023 to promote a more inclusive and equitable toys and games community, encourage more women’s participation in the space, inspire the next generation of young women and girls to unleash their creativity, and increase awareness and exposure to creative career paths.