“The greeting card community deserves a humongous party of celebration and togetherness and that is exactly what we are going to create with The Henries 2021 awards event this year,” exclaimed Warren Lomax, joint managing director of Max Publishing, which owns and organises The Henries greeting card awards. “And with Boogie Wonderland as the theme for the awards event on October 7, everyone will be in a fab and groovy mood!”
But before the event of course, there first has to be entries, judges and finalists. While the awards event itself will be a full on ‘all singing all dancing’ evening affair (in the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London), the entry and judging for The Henries 2021 will take place online.
A revamped website, which will become the portal for all Henries 2021 entries and judging, is on track to go live next Wednesday (26 May) with the deadline for entries not until Wednesday 21 July.
All new card and wrap ranges (or extensions to existing ranges) launched between 1 July 2020 and 28 July 2021 from UK publishers or distributors can be entered.
As ever, entry to The Henries will be free and the entry process will be quick and easy.
Elaborating on the judging process for this year, Jakki Brown, joint md of Max Publishing explained: “While everyone is still adjusting to the ‘new normal’ we wanted to find a way that we could make it as flexible as possible for a wealth of new designs from publishers to 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!”
In something of a twist from previous years, the extensive judging panel of retailers from right across the spectrum will be joined by several leading overseas distributors. All judges will have a couple of weeks to complete their task.
The finalists of The Henries 2021 will be announced in August while the winners will not be unveiled until the Boogie Wonderland extravaganza on Thursday 7 October, which will take place at The Royal Lancaster Hotel, London.
Tickets and tables can be reserved quickly and securely online by visiting Max-Tickets.net or by contacting Clare Hollick of Createvents via email: clare@createvents.co.uk or phone: +44 (0)1183 340085.
