The 15th and grand finale edition of The Broadway Bears, the annual auction of handmade, one-of-a-kind, theatrically costumed teddy bears, raised a record-setting $198,300 benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The auction was held March 18 at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill. The cumulative fundraising total for all 15 editions of The Broadway Bears auctions is $2,048,427.

The two premiere publications serving teddy bear collectors, Teddy Bear & Friends and Teddy Bear Review, will merge into one title in 2012 published under the name Teddy Bear & Friends, published on a bimonthly schedule by Jones Publishing. The deal was announced Jan. 27 at the Debut of Dolls and DOTY Awards Banquet during IDEX trade show in Orlando, Fla. Jones Publishing also presented its Ambassador Award to Barrie and Danny Shapiro of The Toy Shoppe at the same event.

Jones Publishing has announced that it is suspending its 2012 Golden Teddy Award (GTA) program following the merger of Teddy Bear Review with Teddy Bear & Friends, which has already announced its Industry Choice winners for its own TOBY Awards for 2012.

The Industry's Choice winners for the 2012 TOBY Awards were announced at Crossroad's San Diego show Jan. 14 and 15. The complete list of winners is posted at the Teddy Bear & Friends website. Photos of all the winning bears and friends will be published in the June 2012 issue of Teddy Bears & Friends, along with the ballot and voting information for this year's Public Choice awards.