Product of the Year USA awards looking for 2012 participants

NEW YORK — The world's largest consumer-voted program that recognizes innovation in consumer packaged goods is calling on brands to submit their newest products.

The Product of the Year USA awards will honor consumer brands that participate in the survey conducted by TNS, a custom research agency. U.S. shoppers will be called upon to vote and select a new generation of winners who will earn the POY endorsement in their product category — and will be given the opportunity to tout the Product of the Year logo on their packaging. The winners will be announced in February 2012. The final deadline to submit entries is Aug. 31.

Past winners include Procter & Gamble and M&Ms, among others.

According to Product of the Year managing director Colleen Kelly, nearly 80% of shoppers surveyed said they like to try new products, with more than 70% stating they would pay more for products that satisfied them.

"The Product of the Year logo is a powerful seal honoring the most innovative and relevant products from a variety of consumer product categories as voted on by [more than] 60,000 shoppers nationwide," Kelly said. "Product of the Year's goal is to steer consumers in the right direction by elevating and highlighting companies with truly innovative and quality products that consumers are interested in trying."