Product Awards

For 18 years, Earlychildhood NEWS has recognized excellence in the design and manufacture of products for young children through the Directors' Choice Awards program.

This prestigious awards program serves as a resource for child care providers and preschool teachers to assist them in choosing safe, durable and age-appropriate products for young children.

Entries are evaluated by a distinguished panel of five early childhood experts and child care directors selected by the editorial staff of Earlychildhood NEWS. Child care professionals know that products bearing the Earlychildhood NEWS Directors’ Choice seal have received solid, unbiased appraisal and have been deemed excellent educational resources for the child care setting.

From the Directors’ Choice Award winners in all categories, the judges choose a limited group of products that truly stand out from all the winners. This group - the best of the best - is the Judges’ Selection: Outstanding Products. The winners are announced at the Directors’ Choice Reception of the annual National Association for the Education of Young Children conference.

Each product is evaluated on its own merit based on the following criteria:

• Appropriateness for use in a child care setting
• Safety
• Durability
• Appropriateness for stated age range
• Effectiveness for intended use
• Value

The Industrial Design Excellence Awards are dedicated to fostering business and public understanding of the importance of industrial design excellence to the quality of life and the economy. Winning the IDEA is a distinction like no other that brands a design as the very best in the business, among peers, clients, and consumers around the world.

The IDEA® (International Design Excellence Awards) program is the premier international competition honoring design excellence in products, ecodesign, interaction design, packaging, strategy, research and concepts. Entries are invited from designers, students and companies worldwide.