First Annual 2010 Kids @ Play Interactive (KAPi) Nominees and Winners Announced
We are pleased to announce the winners of the first annual KAPi Awards, given at Kids @ Play event on January 7 at CES.
The KAPi prize is an honest attempt to ask as many people as possible “which children’s tech products raised the bar for innovation and excellence last year?” For more about the award and award process, visit the KAPi FAQs.
A procedure in progress
MEET Ellen, a 59 year-old woman with advanced Parkinson’s Disease, waiting for you at http://www.edheads.org/activities/brain_stimulation/. She’s the patient, you’re the surgeon. During a 20 minute or so procedure, your mouse becomes a shaver, scalpel, drill and swab, as you work through each step of Ellen’s brain surgery. At the end, you can get a happy patient and a deeper understanding for what a real neurosurgeon does.
This construction game for Windows, Mac and Wii lets you drag-and-drop sticky blobs to construct structures that look a bit like carbon molecules. You quickly learn which structures work best to solve a particular problem. On one puzzle, you must construct the highest tower using the fewest possible parts. Another presents you with a spinning set of teeth that requires a curved structure.
There’s a lot of different ways to solve the same problem, making this game addicting. Content includes 15 different varieties of blobs, each with different properties; enough to keep things interesting. Note that a Wii-Ware version is available, as a download. This is a fun way to introduce building dynamics to young science students. Created by 2D Boy (www.2dboy.com) for Brighter Minds Media. Winner of the 2010 KAPi Award. Teaches: science, creativity, building, physics, forces, potential energy. Brighter Minds Media, Inc. www.brightermindsmedia.com, $20. Best for ages 7-up.
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or .96%
No, it's not a toothbrush...
The dream of shrinking an entire LeapPad into a single (fat) stylus has become a reality, with the Tag Reading System ($50, www.leapfrog.com for Mac/Windows), which for the first time can also capture a child’s progress.
In 1999, the LeapPad made news by allowing children to touch any word or picture to hear the associated sound. But every page had to be registered with the reader, and each book paired with a cartridge. If the dog chewed up one or the other, you were out of luck. Tag eliminates the parts by syncing to your computer and storing up to six books in memory. The stories can either be read as audio books through a single clear speaker or headphones, or read in book form, with pages full of audio surprises. The built-in assessment system also recommends new books, at $14 each. These titles include a nice cross section of children’s literature, with titles like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, The Little Engine That Could and Walter the Farting Dog, complete with sound effects.
New for 2009 — about 12 new books, including more Disney content (Up, Cars, and Ben 10), Spiderman, a Star Wars graphic novel (for older readers); plus Madagascar, I SPY, Olivia, and several Dr. Seuss titles (The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham). Winner of the 2010 KAPi Award. See also Tag Junior. Teaches: Reading, comprehension, word recognition. LeapFrog. www.leapfrog.com, $50. Best for ages 4-12.
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Looking for a well designed preschool app for your iPhone or iPod Touch?
Wheels on the Bus by Duck Duck Moose
Simply drag your fingertip across the screen to flip through this interactive version of the Wheels on the Bus song. While on a page, you can tap an item to see it animated. For example, when the bus is shown, you can tap on the steering wheel to make it spin, or open and close the doors.
It’s like an animated pop-up book. The game can be set to sing along in five languages, learn to recognize different instruments, and record your child’s singing. Come aboard the bus to spin the wheels, open and close the doors, swish the wipers, pop some bubbles, make a dog bark, and more. The iPhone version lets you record your own version of the song. Teaches: reading, fine motor coordination, word recognition. Duck Duck Moose Design. www.duckduckmoosedesign.com, $.99. Best for ages 3-6.
Rating: or .96%
Dare I call him a visionary, here’s good-natured David Pogue of 2040, during his visit to Kids @ Play at CES. He did an excellent job telling us what the future will look like.
What are the KAPi Awards?
The Kids at Play Interactive (KAPi) Awards are peer-recognition award designed to recognize innovation and excellence in design in commercial children’s interactive media. This is an annual award that considers commercial United States products. There is no entry fee or formal entry process, and all interactive media products for children are considered, from any publisher of any size.
What products are eligible?
Every children’s (birth to age 15) interactive media product, from any country, from any size publisher as long as it is sold commercially in the domestic United States. These include Apps, video games, CD-ROMs, Internet sites, smart toys, web enabled CDs and eBooks. Products must have a copyright date between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of the current year, although they must be in playable form by November 1. There is also a person category.
What products are not considered?
Non-interactive products, such as videos, movies or books are not considered. Only interactive (non-linear) products are considered.
How Do I Enter?
You can formal enter using the online form. However, your product may also be nominated by any attendee of the Dust or Magic Institute. If the product has been listed in Children’s Technology Review, it will be considered. In order to vote, in Part 1 of the selection process, you have to attend Dust or Magic, either as a speaker or an attendee.
Can I nominate my own product?
Yes. However, you must fully disclose any potential conflicts on the nomination form, and this information will be considered during Part 2 of the selection process.
What is the deadline?
Products must be in playable format by November 1 of the current year, in order to be demonstrated at the Dust or Magic institute.
Is there an entry fee?
No, although there are costs associated to attend either the Dust or Magic institute or the CES show.
Who coordinates the Prize?
The prize is operated jointly by Living in Digital Times, http://www.livingindigitaltimes.com and Children’s Technology Review.
What is the motive of this prize?
You’ve probably noticed that prizes often have a motive; either to promote an event or publication (as this prize does) or to make money, say from entry fees, sales of seals. This prize is designed to recognize excellence in design and innovation as accurately as possible, with minimal cost and effort on behalf of both the organizers, the jurors and the people who enter. The prize creators — Warren Buckleitner and Robin Raskin coordinate annual events that can provide a the necessary face-to-face forum required to select and recognize winners. The main motive of the KAPi awards is to accurately recognize excellent the design of children’s interactive media, with the help of reviewers and designers.
Who selects the winners?
There are two stages. STAGE 1: A group of publishers and critics meet at the Dust or Magic Institute, with a list of 400 or so products, plus their combined knowledge of the current market. Using electronic polling tools and an old fashioned nomination form, they create a list of favorite titles, to be considered as nominees. There is one vote per participant. The top 40 products, determined by popular vote, are moved to the next stage. STAGE 2: The 40 nominees are screened to make sure they qualify and are posted online. The list of 40 is voted on by the attendees of Kids @ Play in a one vote per person system. A demo of each product will be provided. The final prize winners are revealed at 8 PM, January 7, the end of the annual Kids @ Play conference, held during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV.
What does winning a KAPi mean?
Winners receive international recognition in the following ways: permission to display the prize logo on award-winning titles, promotion of the winning title on the prize website, and presentation of an award during a prize ceremony at the Consumer Electronics Show.
When are the finalists and winners announced?
Finalists will be notified just after the Dust or Magic Institute, in November 15. Winners will be selected and announced during the Kids at Play Summit, held the first week of January at CES. Winners will be posted at the Kids at Play Summit website.
Are the results of my nomination ballots made public?
No. They are consider embargoed material and are not released to the public. Your name is not identified with any product. You may, at your choosing, be listed as one of the nominators.
I have more questions not answered here:
We (Robin and I) welcome your questions on this young prize initiative. Send them by email to—
Warren Buckleitner, Editor, Children’s Technology Review.
warren@childrenstech.com, or call 908-284-0404