With the ongoing Covid-19 situation, in order to safeguard The Henries 2020 greeting card awards for this year, the entry and judging process is moving to online only. This means that, in a change from previously, for this year only no physical cards and wrap need to be submitted. Publishers will be able to upload five images for each range entered.
This is also the case for The Lynn Tait Most Promising Young Designer or Artist award category too.
The judging of The Henries product categories will also be undertaken online. An extensive judging panel made up entirely of retailers from right across the spectrum will undertake this important job from the comfort of their homes or offices, and will have several days to complete the task.
A brand new website, which will become the portal for all Henries 2020 entries and judging is in the final throes of being built and is on track to go live within two weeks (www.thehenriesawards.co.uk).
The deadline for entering The Henries 2020 product categories has been extended to 10 July 2020.
All new card and wrap ranges (or extensions to existing ranges) launched between 10 July 2019 and 9 July 2020 from UK publishers or distributors can be entered.
Explaining more, Jakki Brown, joint managing director of Max Publishing (which owns and organises The Henries) said: “In light of the uncertainty and disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we wanted a failsafe method for publishers to be able to enter their lovely products. With so many people furloughed or working from home, we feel submitting imagery online is the best solution.”
As ever entry to The Henries is free and the entry process will be quick and easy.
Elaborating on the judging process for this year, Jakki added: “While everyone loves the verve of The Henries’ live judging day with so many retailers collectively selecting the finalists and winners, with the current social distancing guidelines, we needed to find a way that the wealth of new designs from publishers could still be judged by an extensive panel of retail buyers. This way, they can. And retailers will not need to do it all in one day!” she adds.
In recognition of current times, The Henries 2020 programme welcomes the introduction of a new award categories – Best Lockdown Range.
“It has always been our core belief that to maintain their respected status, The Henries Awards categories would need to evolve in order to reflect the developments within the industry. The addition of a dedicated Best Lockdown Range, which can be humorous or non-humorous, is a perfect example of this,” said Jakki.
While publishers are being invited to submit their product ranges, independent retailers will be invited to nominate their top three card and wrap suppliers for the Best Service to the Independent Retailer award. However, as the majority of indie retailers remain closed until June 15, the deadline for this category is not until August 10.
The Henries Awards 2020 have the strong backing of major names in the industry as official sponsors. These include Alpha Colour, EBB Elliott Baxter, Fedrigoni, Foilco, GF Smith, Gould, Herbert Walker, The Imaging Centre, LB Warehousing, Loxleys, Paperchase, PG Live, Sherwood Group, Skeet, UK Envelopes, and Windles.
The finalists of The Henries will be announced in August while the winners are set to be unveiled at an evening extravaganza event to be held on Thursday 8 October in The Royal Lancaster Hotel, London.
Tickets and tables can be reserved quickly and securely online by clicking here or visiting Max-Tickets.net or by contacting Clare Hollick of Create Events: clare@createvents.co.uk or phone +44 (0)1183 340085.
