Design Squad Nation Wins Daytime Emmy Award

PBS KIDS GO's Design Squad Nation Wins Daytime Emmy Award

Design Squad Nation won a coveted Emmy Award honoring its online destination for creative kids and tweens. Designed to inspire the next generation of engineers, the PBS project won the Emmy for New Approaches –Daytime Children’s at the 39th Annual Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony held this weekend in Los Angeles.

The New Approaches award recognizes Design Squad Nation’s “creative and innovative approaches to the practice, presentation and delivery” of children’s programming. The Design Squad Nation website brings creative ideas to life with the motto “dream it, build it, live it.” On the website’s ‘Projects’ gallery, kids can brainstorm new ideas, submit dream projects, and respond to those of other kids through sketches and real world prototypes — all while earning points. The games FIDGIT and STRING THING blend both creativity and puzzle solving online. A vast library of videos show teams working together to tackle an array of engineering projects — including a pedal-powered bike organ, a water-saving toilet, and a human-powered flying machine.

“PBS and Design Squad Nation have been on the forefront of creating innovative ways to engage kids online,” said senior producer Dave Peth. “It’s great that the academy is recognizing other platforms, besides television, as a way to distribute our media and to interact with our brands.”

Executive producer Marisa Wolsky added, “I am so proud of this team and this production. More than a TV show, and more than a website, Design Squad Nation is a growing community built around the belief that with creative problem solving and engineering, any kid can make a difference. This award is particularly gratifying, since we are currently hard at work to make this community bigger and stronger, inspiring a new generation of engineers to dream big and change the world.”

Other nominees in the New Approaches Daytime Children’s category were “ “Cyberchase,” “Fizzy’s Lunch Lab,” and “Noah Comprende.”

The 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards is a presentation of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in cooperation with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Design Squad Nation invites the next generation of great thinkers to get involved at pbskidsgo.org/designsquadnation. You can also follow Design Squad Nation on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DesignSquadNation and on Twitter at twitter.com/designsquad.


PBS KIDS GO! offers early elementary children the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television, online and community-based programs.




Disclosure: I did not receive any products nor was paid for this post. I was provided info from the PR firm to share. Any expressed opinions are my own and personal thoughts. No other compensation was given