New industry categories for Golden Ticket Awards

Following the conclusion of the summer season, the 22nd annual Golden Ticket Awards will take place Sept. 6 & 7 in Idaho. As Amusement Today works to evolve the awards, some categories will be retired, and new ones will offer fresh perspectives.

“The Golden Ticket Awards have served us well for more than two decades,” said Publisher Gary Slade. “We don’t intend to lose sight of that. However, we have wanted to give things a refresh for some time. We are going to keep our core categories, retire some that we feel have run their course and introduce some new categories we feel are deserving. This year’s awards ceremony should be very exciting.”

Golden Ticket Legends will honor individuals and attractions that have reached legendary status deserving of acknowledgement.

Industry professionals will be able to have an impact on some awards this year. Suppliers and parks can submit nominations in certain categories.

Innovation of the Year will acknowledge any new product, service or procedure in the industry that shows innovative improvement, safety or an increase in customer service or sales.

Nominees for Best New Attraction Installation can be submitted from suppliers. New attractions must be installed and operating when submitted. Consideration will be given to technology, theming, operation and impact.

Interested parties can make nominations to Amusement Today to be evaluated by an industry panel formed by the AT staff. Nominations should be written in 300 words or less and submitted to Tim Baldwin at tbaldwin@amusementtoday.com

All nominations should be received by June 30. When submitting, please use “GTA Nomination” as the subject line. A confirmation will be sent when received.

A modification of a previous category, Best Shows, will now become Best New Show of 2019. Any park wishing to nominate a new-for-2019 show may do so by using an electronic transfer method to a video of the show. Nominations should be received by June 30 for a review.

The Golden Ticket Awards were established in 1998 to recognize the Best of the Best and have become some of the most recognized accolades in the world of amusements.