The field of contenders for the 2026 title of The Coolest Thing Made in Illinois has been narrowed further, with voters choosing the Top 8 products to move ahead in the annual “Makers Madness” contest. Hosted by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and sponsored by Comcast Business, “Makers Madness” is a bracket-style tournament that celebrates the work of manufacturers across Illinois.
Over the past week, voters chose their favorites in eight head-to-head matchups between individual products, with nearly 57,000 votes cast. The original field of more than 100 nominees for The Coolest Thing Made in Illinois has now been whittled down to 8, including the Duck Skimmer made by Elastec in Carmi.
Top 8 matchups are as follows:
Bracket A:
(1) NASA Standard Initiator (Chemring Energetic Devices, Downers Grove) v. (3) Kinder Bueno (Ferrero, Bloomington)
Bracket B:
(1) John Deere Combine (John Deere, East Moline) v. (3) ADA Bus Transport Seat (Freedman by Lippert, Chicago)
Bracket C:
(1) MQ-25 Stingray (The Boeing Company, Mascoutah) v. (3) Duck Skimmer (Elastec, Carmi)
Learn more about the Duck Skimmer at Duckweed Skimmer | Duckweed Removal | Elastec
Bracket D:
(1) Aerapy PPR HVAC UV Systems (Aerapy, St. Charles) v. (3) Curved Blazed Diffraction Grating (Inprentus, Inc., Champaign)
Voting for this round is now open and will take place at www.makersmadnessil.com through 11:59 p.m. on April 5th. Voters may cast one vote per day in each of the four head-to-head matchups between individual products. Consecutive rounds of voting will take place each week, with vote totals reset to zero at the beginning of each round. The contest will culminate with an awards ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion on April 15th when The Coolest Thing Made in Illinois will be named.