30,000 consumers celebrated play and innovation on Navy Pier.

For the first time in its 13 year history, the Young Inventor Challenge (YIC), held annually during Chicago Toy and Game Week (ChiTAG), crowned three grand prize winners for Most Marketable Concept, a category sponsored by Target and Pressman Toy. Cain Guerra, a 4th grader from Palos Park, IL won for Soup It. Lyra Acosta, a 5th grader from Palos Hills, IL won for Hypnodizzy. The team of Lily Brown of Alpine, UT and Tait Hansen of Evanston, IL, both 6th graders, won for Bet You Can’t. Each of the winning young inventors will take a trip to Target Headquarters in Minneapolis for a behind-the-scenes tour of how products move through the processes from selection all the way to store shelves.

Over 250 kids competed in the YIC spanning five countries and 15 states. Each one received feedback from 100 mentors from Target, Goliath, PlayMonster, Lego, Spin Master, Razor, Disney, Hasbro, Mattel, IDEO, KID Group, 7Towns and many more worldwide. A complete list of 2018 YIC winners can be found here.

David Norman, president of Pressman Toy, commented: “The competition gets better and better every year. We are so impressed and excited for each of these young people. We can’t promise anything yet, but we are seriously looking at each of the winning games to possibly manufacture and sell under the Pressman Toy name.”