Sometimes, some of us are so close to a subject that we tend to miss that others might not be aware. While I believe that there may be some that have tired of my OTY-related posts, it is still a good point that some may NOT be fully aware of what it is all about.

So, I will take this opportunity to inform you and others not fully familiar with the concept, and I thank you for the chance to do so.

Beginning in 1991, the started a program to recognize the 'Best of the Best' in gaming chip and token designs. The first contest (which pre-dates my Club membership) was for calendar year 1990. The contest was operated by the then Club President (Archie Black) and basically it called for nominations from Club Members of their favorite chips and tokens released during calendar year 1990. The Top 10 Finalists, i.e., those chips and tokens that garnered to most nominations, were then voted upon by the same members that submitted nominations.

If you visit the Club's website at this link: http://www.ccgtcc.com/oty_awards.html you can see all the past winners from 1990 through 2009 (the 2010 winners should be along at some point). When the contests were initially started, only casino chips and tokens were included and the terms "Chip of the Year" and "Token of the Year" were coined and then the acronyms COTY and TOTY came into use.

Over the course of the contests they have become known as the "OTY Awards". In 2002 I took over for Archie (as the OTY Chairman) and added 2 more categories; Silver Strike of the Year (SSOTY) and Room Key/Slot Card of the Year (CKOTY). In recent times the minting and usage of metal slot machines tokens have fallen off so much, that the TOTY Award is in abeyance. I had hoped that slot machine token replacements, TITO's (for Ticket In, Ticket Out), would become an OTY category, given that the backs usually have a casino-related design and some can get very artful, however, without a large collector base, TITO's will remain out of the OTY Awards.

The OTY contests are actually operated year-round, but they have 3 major events each year, as follows:

1. Beginning on Jaanuary 1st of each year, we open the contests with a Nomination period. That is what you see going on right now. (Please visit this link to see how Nominations are made: http://www.ccgtcc.com/cgi-bin/bbs521/webbbs_config.pl/page/1/md/read/id/54308/sbj/oty-2010-nominating-process/ .

2. In the March to April time frame, I will publish a visual guide of the Top 10 Nominees in each of the OTY categories, along with a Ballot and the ballot is used by Club members-only to vote on their favorite(s) from the Finalists.

3. At the Convention (generally in June) we present plaques to the winning OTY representatives on the Convention Floor, at about noon time. The Awards are given to both the casino that was responsible for the item that won and also an Award to the manufacturer of the item that won.

I mentioned that the OTY contests are operated year-round because I use a website that solicits scans of eligible OTY candidates from memebrs and non-members alike to function as a single resource to view all (or as many that get submitted) of the OTY eligible chips, strikes and cards/keys for a given year. While I have not opened the 2011 viewing pages and asked for submissions, I will be doing so shortly. You can also view the Top 10 Finalists for each year (going back several years, by changing the date in any Viewing page URL.

Whew! Quite a bit of reading, especially if you click the links, but I do thank you for the comment, AND...

Welcome Aboard. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity to submit your recommendations for OTY consideration. And just because an item is not shown on the viewing site, it does not mean that it can't be nominated. Just review the nominating critera and send me an email!

Thanks,

Jim