Comedian George Zacharopoulos confirmed as host for industry’s big night
Fresh from his huge success at Edinburgh Fringe, the host of The Henries this year has been confirmed as comedian George Zacharopoulos.
With the theme of The Henries – which takes place on Thursday, 3 October – being ancient Rome, George will be honing his material to rise to the historic battle of the Titans.
George is a familiar face on BBC One’s The One Show, ITV’s Good Morning Britain, and Dave UK, and was awarded Top European Performer at the Edinburgh Fringe and last year was voted International Comedian Of The Year by the biggest comedy club in Australia.
He has lived in Newcastle Upon Tyne since 2001 when he came to study biochemistry and found the comedy scene, turning professional in 2015 and going on to headline every major comedy club in Europe, Dubai and Australia.
And George will take to the stage in the Ballroom at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel to share a taster of his stand-up comedy as well as present the much-coveted awards at the event which will be attended by hundreds of greeting card publishers, retailers and trade suppliers.
The strong roster of sponsors for The Henries 2024 includes Alpha Colour Print, Cardzone Group, Cardfactory, Cardgains, Designer Greetings, EBB, Fedrigoni, G.F Smith, Gould Paper, Graphite Creative, Herbert Walkers, House of Cards, The Imaging Centre, Loxleys, McDaniel’s Law, N Smith, Postmark, Progressive Greetings Live, Scribbler, The Sherwood Group, Skeet Print, Skylight Media, Spring Fair & Autumn Fair, Tiger Feet, UK Envelope Centre and Windles.
Paper Mirchi was this year’s official ticket sponsor, going all out to create a stupendous keepsake, involving making the paper for the scroll and its box by hand in India.
Jakki Brown, MD of Max Publishing which owns and runs The Henries, said: “We’re so grateful to all our fabulous sponsors – as well as those who have generously donated raffle prizes, we just couldn’t do it without them.”
As Simon Pryce, owner of web company Skylight Media, explained: “We’re sponsoring The Henries because we have practically every year since 2010! It’s become another important event in the calendar to be proud of our involvement with.
“We love supporting Jakki and Warren, who are so dedicated and knowledgeable about the sector, and also our clients. The Henries are an incredible celebration of talent, innovation and community – we wouldn’t miss it for the world!”
Alpha Colour Printers is also proud to be a Henries sponsor, and MD Amy Muldrew said: “It’s a way of supporting excellence in the greeting card industry. As a company that values quality and creativity, we believe in celebrating the innovative designs and talented creators who make this industry thrive.
“Sponsoring The Henries aligns perfectly with our commitment to helping bring beautiful ideas to life through print, and we’re excited to be part of recognising the best in greeting card design.”
At print firm Herbert Walkers, MD Mike Lammas admitted: “We do love a good party!” and explained how the company has a long-standing history within the greeting card industry.
He said: “We have great relationships with our customers and The Henries are a fantastic opportunity to celebrate everyone’s hard work and successes within the community. We feel proud to be able to sponsor the event and give something back to the publishers we work with and the wider industry, and, of course, there’s the party!”
Kelly Hudson is director of intellectual property specialists McDaniel’s Law which has worked with the greeting card industry for a long time, and she added: “We’ve thoroughly enjoyed stepping up our involvement lately both with the GCA and Progressive Greetings. It’s such a vibrant and friendly industry which we are proud to work with and we are greatly looking forward to attending the Henries.”
Wholesaler Tiger Feet has stepped up as a new sponsor with CEO Akhtar Zahid explaining that the business that has superceded Budget Greeting Cards is doing so “because the previous business was not involved as it should have been in supporting the card industry”.
He said: “As the industry leader in the wholesale greeting cards market, we feel it’s right we celebrate the success of others from designers, to retailers, to competitors.”
And, from printer Loxleys, marketing manager Alice Woodland commented: “We are unbelievably proud to be a Henries sponsor again this year, quite simply because we couldn’t imagine our industry without the Henries awards and all it symbolises.
“The awards allow us to celebrate the endless talent, creativity and hard work that goes on behind scenes in our industry. Without the people on stage and in that room, we wouldn’t be here, so we proudly sponsor each year to recognise that.”
All winners of The Henries 2024 will be announced at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel on Thursday, 3 October, 2024, which this year takes on an Ancient Roman theme – the product finalists can be found here and the contenders for the Best Service To The Independent award, sponsored by buying group Cardgains, can be found here.
To enjoy this fabulous opportunity for the greeting card community to get together and celebrate its creative excellence as well as its strong sense of camaraderie, a few tickets are still available, which can be booked here. For more details head to the website www.thehenriesawards.co.uk.
