The UK leads the world in greeting cards, both in design and per capita send – The Henries awards celebrate this pre-eminence.
Named after Sir Henry Cole (who introduced the first commercially produced Christmas card in 1843), The Henries were introduced by Progressive Greetings Worldwide magazine in 1996 as annual awards to shine the spotlight on greeting card ranges.
The Henries Awards are the ultimate accolades in greeting card publishing, and each year some 14,000 cards are entered! The Henries award categories span the whole gamut of greeting card publishing, from humour to cute, art to handmade and everything in between.
The majority of the awards categories are for card ranges that have either been launched in the preceding year or for new designs to an existing range. The Henries awards are open to all publishers (or UK distributors), from the largest multi-national to the smallest one-man band. Entry is totally free of charge.
All entries are judged by an extensive panel comprising top retail buyers from right across the retail spectrum including specialist multiples, design-led independents, small groups, department store selectors, supermarket buyers etc.
The Henries Awards 2020 event took place as an online event on Thursday 10 December, at which all the winners were revealed to a global audience of over 700 members of the greeting card community.
You can relive The Henries 2020 event by clicking here here and see the winners by clicking on the Winners’ tab on this site or by clicking on the PG Buzz announcement here. You can ‘meet’ Cath Tate, founder of Cath Tate Cards who received the Honorary Achievement Award by clicking here as well as see some of the other award winners with their trophies by clicking here. It was a true evening of celebration, recognition and camaraderie, albeit in a virtual space.
The 2021 Event…
Following the digital awards in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the intention is to return to the live event on Thursday 7 October 2021 at The Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. Contracts are signed and we have every intention to return with aplomb, as demanded by all of you who missed the big bash!
We will of course be monitoring the situation daily, as we did last year, and assure all guests that ticket and table bookings are fully refundable, without penalty, should the pandemic alter these plans.
Any questions? Simply get in touch with us, we would love to chat to you about being involved this year.
