Publisher’s info helps retailers sell ethnic cards – as hunt is on for Henries entries
As part of its commitment to diversity and inclusion, greeting card publisher Davora has re-released its set of Cheat Sheets, which distil key information on many ethnic festivals that occur throughout the year down to an easily digestible A4 page.
“Our Cheat Sheets are designed to empower retailers in selling ethnic cards,” aid Raj Aurora, managing director of Davora. “If a retailer has a basic understanding of what a festival is, who celebrates it and why, they can feel more confident in stocking and promoting relevant cards.”
Among the festivals covered by the Cheat Sheets are those for Eid, Diwali, Passover, Jewish New Year, Chinese New Year and Rakhi. With the dates of these and many other occasions changing every year, keeping track can be challenging which is what prompted Davora to produce a wallplanner every year along with handy till-side bookmarks so that retailers can easily plan for occasions that are prominent in their area.
Raj hopes that the Cheat Sheets will help greeting card retailers to gain more clarity and confidence in catering for the many ethnic festivals that are widely celebrated across the UK.
PG’s May issue includes a full Diversity & Inclusion Cards feature looking at how publishers are now addressing the expectation that people should be able to find someone who looks like them and reflects their life among the greetings designs on offer.
And the search is also now on for the contenders in the Best Diversity & Inclusion Range in The Henries 2022 greeting card awards, with The Art File’s Fierce & Fabulous collection taking the inaugural title in 2021 with its celebration of female empowerment across a broad spectrum of ethnic and cultural diversity.
The other finalists saw the Cath Tate Cartoons range show people using wheelchairs and walking aids to prove humour isn’t just for the able-bodied, while Lottie Simpson’s Hello Family range covers many different relations, Embrace (Race) from Emotional Rescue and AfroTouch Design’s Live In Colour Collection featured numerous religions and ethnicities, while the princesses in Kitsch Noir’s Family And Friends Collection definitely aren’t the white, simpering, constantly fainting variety.
The deadline for the 2022 Henries Awards is 15 June, 2022, and there is a two-stage judging process for all categories for the first time, with entries to be submitted via a portal on The Henries website (www.thehenriesawards.co.uk), and the initial judging stage will also take place entirely online through an extensive panel of retail buyers, whose votes will be used to compile a shortlist of contenders for the live judging round, for which publishers will be asked to supply physical card samples.
The shortlisted entries will be mounted on boards and displayed for the judges to peruse in person, and their votes will decide the finalists and winner in all the product categories along with the Best Young Designer.
