Smart Picks, Inc.

Company: Smart Picks, Inc., Lakewood, OH
Company Description: Smart Picks, is a leader in developing high-quality, award-winning nutrition games & books for kids. We impact thousands kids by showing them the best food choices for their health. Founded in 1995 by our President Kathleen Stefancin M.S.,R.D., Raw Food Chef who employs five independent contractors & has won 17 awards for concept, design, value and quality of our products.
Nomination Category: Product & Service Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best New Product of the Year

Nomination Title: Healthy Ideas for Hungry Minds Nutritional Program

Describe for the judges the nominated product, including its features and benefits (up to 500 words). Include in this section the date during the eligibility period on which the product was first introduced to the marketplace:

Healthy Ideas For Hungry Minds Nutritional Program

Today's children are increasingly struggling with weight and nutrition issues.
Trying to get children to eat nutritional foods can be a daily challenge for
many parents. Getting children to understand the value of healthy eating can be
even more of a struggle. Children are becoming increasingly familiar with terms
such as diabetes, obesity, cholesterol, depression and gastric bypass. Kathleen
Stefancin, a Registered Dietitian in Ohio has been implementing an innovative
approach to help deal with these nutritional issues. Her company, Smart Picks
has been recognized by some of the top names in the industry such as Teacher's
Choice, Parent’s Choice, Creative Child, American Dietetic Association,
Tillywig, Dr. Toy and as a finalist for three years in the Stevie’ Awards for
Women in Business.

"Our Healthy Ideas for Hungry Minds Nutritional Program" incorporates five of
Smart Picks top selling awards winning nutritional games and books for kids.
These products have helped change the lives of thousands of children. In 2009,
Food Pyramid Bingo was hailed as the “Game of Year” by Creative Child Magazine
and was given 4 stars by the Family Review Center for offering a fun way to
teach kids healthy eating habits. Fruit & Veggie Color Bingo was honored in
2009 with "Tillywig's Brain Child Award”, "Dr Toy's Best Vacation Product Award"
and "Creative Child’s Preferred Choice Award". These amazing games can be used
with up to 30 kids and educates them about whole food nutrition in an
interactive and playful way. And the awards keep coming....The Fruit Flies
Picnic and The Fish Who Wished He Could Eat Fruit books are also winners of the
“2009 Brain Child Awards and Preferred Choice Awards”. These enjoyable picture
books are filled with adventure, excitement and surprising endings about why we
should eat our fruits and veggies. Finally, The Fruit Flies Interactive CD-ROM
was chosen for the “2009 Media of the Year Award” and expands on the Fruit
Flies’ Picnic book by adding animation and more fun facts about fruits and
veggies. All of these award winning products were reviewed by parents, teachers,
and educators and deemed outstanding for concept, design, quality and value.

This Program is packed with everything a parent or educator needs to educate
kids about whole food nutrition. It is Smart Picks goal to be a one stop
shopping place for high quality, high learning award winning products for kids
focusing on whole food nutrition. And we deliver… including FREE supplemental
materials on our website. These products have been introduced into the market
place over the last 4 years (2005-2009) and continue to receive national awards
and rave reviews.

More products are under way and will be included in the "Healthy Ideas for
Hungry Minds Nutritional Program" in 2010. Look for two more children’s’ books,
Molly the “Monkey the Monkey Finds a Pineapple” and “Chippy the Chubby
Squirrel”. We will also be adding a green smoothie recipe book as well as an
animated cartoon, and “Smart Charts” that will list healthy foods.

List the URLs (web addresses) of any online news stories, press releases, product photographs, logos, or other documents that you would like the judges to see that support your entry. IMPORTANT: List each URL on a separate line, begin each URL with http://, and enclose each URL in square brackets. For example, [http://www.yourcompany.com/pressrelease.html]:

Provide a brief biography of the person or persons who lead the team that developed the nominated new product (up to 100 words):

Smart Picks nutrition books and games received eight national awards in 2009.
Products were reviewed by moms, teachers and early education professionals. The
author and creative visionary of these award-winning products and founder of
Smart Picks Inc., is Kathleen Stefancin, a Registered Dietitian and Raw Food
Chef. She holds a degree in Biology and Dietetics and a Master’s Degree in
Nutrition from Case Western Reserve University. With the help of highly skilled
graphic designers, her innovative products have received over 32 awards and
continue to make a difference in the lives of children.

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Smart Picks, Inc.