The Retas 2023 greeting card retailer awards nominations close at 5pm tomorrow!
It’s your last chance to tell everyone what a great greeting card retailer you are as the entry deadline for The Retas 2023 is 5pm sharp tomorrow, Friday 14 April.
The only awards dedicated to celebrating greeting card retailing in the UK, The Retas are now in their 19th year of shining the spotlight on retailers in all their forms – the best indies and multiple specialists across the country, along with those who stock cards alongside their other main offerings.
In addition to retailers submitting their entries by post or email, publishers, reps and agents have also been canvassed for their nominations on which retailers they feel have over-delivered on product selection, retailing environment and customer service in the last year.
“The engagement for The Retas this year has been incredible, both from retailers entering as well as the groundswell of nominations from publishers, reps and agents about their retailer heroes,” commented Jakki Brown, managing director of Max Publishing, which owns and organises The Retas.
The Retas entry form is on the awards website, but can also be downloaded here, then needs to be submitted by 5pm tomorrow.
This year, The Retas will take on a Van Gogh theme, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and Jakki added: “We were delighted that the team at the Van Gogh Museum and its licensing agent, Licensing Link, were fully supportive of the idea to theme The Retas 2023 on the great artist, agreeing we could use his wonderful artworks to celebrate and reward greeting card retailing artistry. We’ve already received plenty of fabulous entries embracing the theme.”
Marijn Veraart, head of global partnerships and licensing of the Van Gogh Museum, commented: “We are very excited to be part of The Retas Awards 2023. It’s a privilege to celebrate our special year, being the 50th anniversary of the Van Gogh Museum, with such a prestigious retail awards programme. We hope to contribute to this exciting event by inspiring everyone with the life and art of Vincent Van Gogh! Good luck to all the finalists.”
Bringing together Van Gogh’s creative talents with that of The Art File studio, the publisher’s designer Beth Kemp has created the official invitation to The Retas 2023 awards event, a fabulous awards lunch and afternoon event which takes place on Thursday, 6 July in the Ballroom of London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.
This year’s gorgeous ticket design – which is being printed by Loxleys on board donated by Fedrigoni – pays tribute to the Dutch post-impressionist painter whose characteristic bold colours and expressive brushwork contributed to the foundations of modern art.
“I wanted to create a medley of Van Gogh’s works using a collage cut-and-paste style,” Beth explained about how she approached the brief, “layering different artworks on top of one another to create a bespoke piece while showcasing the movement and life in all of his paintings.
“The outer sleeve is subdued and classic, and the insert is more bright and vibrant to contrast against one another – it’s a nice little surprise as the insert is pulled from the sleeve! The addition of the vibrant pink on the insert also adds a contemporary edge.”
All The Retas 2023 winners will be announced at the awards event with a strong roster of sponsors ready to hand out the trophies. The Retas 2023 sponsors include AfroTouch Design, The Art File, Belly Button Designs, Carte Blanche Greetings, Cath Tate Cards, Danilo, GBCC, Hallmark, Ling Design, Lucilla Lavender, Meraki, Museums & Galleries, Ohh Deer, Paperlink, Paper Salad, Pigment, Progressive Greetings Live, Rosie Made A Thing, Sensations/Express Yourself, Spring Fair/Autumn Fair, UK Greetings, W Select, and Woodmansterne Publications.
To be among the UK’s best greeting card retailers as well as some great card publishers, book your ticket online via Max-Tickets.net or contact The Retas’ awards manager Clare Hollick, director of Createvents, on 0118 334 0085 or email clare@createvents.co.uk.
