Friday 6 June deadline for publishers to shout about their fabulous ranges
Got a fabulous greeting card range that you really want to shout about? Well, it’s that time of year as The Henries Awards 2025 are now open for entries.
The annual celebration of the best greeting cards and publishers is your chance to really make a song and dance about your work as well as the great service you provide to indie retailers.
The deadline for entering all the product categories is Friday 6 June, while the Lynn Tait Best Young Designer Or Artist, Best Service To The independent, and Honorary Achievement categories take entries and nominations until Wednesday 23 July.
As ever, entering is free of charge and, for all product categories, submissions should be for card ranges that have been launched at retail between 7 June, 2024, and 6 June, 2025, or for new designs to an existing range launched within that period.
And it’s a brilliant opportunity to get products in front of a large array of greeting card retailers as that’s who make up the judging panels for the two-stage process for the main product categories – Best Diversity & Inclusion Range; Best Humorous Range; Best Licensed Entertainment Or Character Brand Range; Best Licensed Heritage, Lifestyle, Art Or Design Brand Range; Best Christmas Counter Range; Best Christmas Box Or Pack Collection; Best Cute Range; Best Contemporary Words & Sentiments Range; Best Traditional Words & Sentiments Range; Best Art Range; Best Photographic Range; Best Children’s Range; Best Contemporary Trend Range; Best 3D, Pop-Up, Hand-finished Or Handmade Range; Best Male Range; Best Relations &/Or Occasions Range; Best Spring Seasons Range; Best Wholesale Range; Best Giftwrappings Range; and The Henry Cole Classic Award.
For the fourth year running, the initial judging stage will take place entirely online through the www.thehenriesawards.co.uk website, thanks to the extensive panel of retail buyers who will be invited to judge at least six categories each.
Once the judges have cast their votes online, their thoughts lead to a shortlist of contenders being drawn up which will be announced on 8 July.
Those products then go forward to the live judging round – which is again judged entirely by retailers – where publishers will be asked to supply physical card samples to be put on display at special session on 30 July for the panel to examine in person where their votes are counted to decide the finalists and winner in all product categories, and the finalists will be revealed on 1 August.
“The two-stage judging approach has been so successful it’s now an integral part of The Henries,” said Jakki Brown, managing director of Max Publishing, which owns and organises the awards as well as PG Buzz and Progressive Greetings magazine.
“Online the retail judges have time to carefully consider the entries at their leisure, then they get together for an enjoyable in-person judging day viewing the shortlisted ranges in the flesh with many of their retailing pals.”
Known as the Oscars of the greetings industry, the Henries are the ultimate accolade for cards – each year well over 14,000 designs are entered, covering the whole span of styles and occasions with the two licensing categories, covering entertainment and character, and heritage, lifestyle, art and design, being kept following the successful introduction last year to acknowledge the rise in licensing collaborations from publishers of all sizes.
Entries for the Best Spring Seasons Range category should be event-specific, submit a separate entry for Valentine’s Day, a separate entry for Mother’s Day, etc.
And, of course, there’s the coveted Henry Cole Classic Award, open to all greeting card ranges that have stood the test of time, having been published for at least the past eight years, and still for sale.
For the Lynn Tait Most Promising Young Designer Or Artist category, there is no online element as all entries need to be appreciated in the flesh so creatives under the age of 35 – whether individual publishers or working for a company of any size – are invited to submit boards showcasing their artistic prowess.
Each entry should demonstrate the entrant’s design talents, both generally as well as on the greeting card front, as well as giving an insight into their inspirations that serve to set them apart.
Meanwhile, as the dependence on retailers for the judging panel proves, they are a major element in the whole process otherwise getting the card from the drawing board to the mantlepiece would not be possible so, how they are treated by publishers is incredibly important, which makes the Best Service To The Independent Retailer category one of the most highly-prized awards.
Sponsored by buying group Cardgains, this award has three winners – gold, silver and bronze – and Jakki added: “Nominations are invited from indie retailers to tell us which card publishers and giftwrap suppliers you feel have excelled on the service front in the past year.”
There’s also the Honorary Achievement Award, presented each year to an individual in recognition of the contribution they have made to the greeting card industry. Nominees can come from any aspect of the industry – retailer, publisher, designer or supplier – and all nominations will be treated in the strictest of confidence.
The deadline for Young Designer, Service and Achievement nominations is Wednesday, 23 July, 2025 – the full list of categories, sponsors, and entry criteria can be found on the website, where a new account needs to be made for this year’s entries and nominations.
Named after Sir Henry Cole, the man who introduced the first commercially-produced Christmas card in 1843, The Henries Awards event is the industry’s big night and a fabulous opportunity for the greeting card community to get together to celebrate its creative excellence as well as its strong sense of camaraderie – check out the video below to see the fun from the 2024 ceremony.
The generous sponsors for this year’s Henries include Alpha Colour Printers, Cardfactory, Cardgains, Cardzone Group, Fedrigoni, GF Smith, Graphite Creative, Gould Paper, Herbert Walkers, House of Cards, Hugo Blue, The Imaging Centre, Loxleys, McDaniels Law, Postmark, Progressive Greetings Live, Scribbler, The Sherwood Group, Skeet Print, Skylight Media, Spring and Autumn Fairs, UK Envelope Centre, Watermark Cards and Windles.
Taking place at The Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on Thursday, 2 October, 2024, The Henries 2025 awards will be an all-singing all-dancing event, which this year will take on an Abba-esque theme.
To book tickets for the champagne drinks reception, sumptuous three-course meal, celebrity host, awards ceremony and after-party fun, click here.
