Newbies and established publishers celebrate being picked as Henries Award 2024 finalists
Jigs of joy have been breaking out all over the country as 75 different publishers celebrate being picked as finalists for The Henries Awards 2024.
Whether it’s a bigger publisher such as Ohh Deer topping the list with no less than seven nominations, or down to the tiniest of newbies like Brilliantly Brave making the finals just six months into business, the delight is the same – as an extremely happy Yvette Clarkson from Heyyy Cards demonstrates in the video below.
And Brilliantly Brave’s Stuart Cox and Jean Pryde said: “For a startup like us, with just six months under our belt, this feels like a village team finding themselves in the Champions League final.
“Waiting for the Henries announcement is just like quantum physics, where PG’s Jakki Brown is Schrodinger, your entry is the cat, and until Jakki lets it out of the bag it’s in a superposition of being both dead and alive at the same time!
“We feel very fortunate that we’ve still got a cat in the race, despite that being a moderately muddled metaphor. So, if nothing else I hope it was educational to our friends and colleagues on the fundamental underpinnings of reality.
“It’s truly unexpected. We are full of appropriate gratitude to the judges and the organisers for getting us there – even if a pair of mid-50 somethings out in the sticks of northern Scotland being in Contemporary Trend is highly amusing!”
With five nominations Stormy Knight’s Sarah Jackson was over the moon – and showed the power of the awards: “I’ve had three potential new stockists get in touch after the judging on Tuesday too, which is amazing. Long live the Henries!”
And there was a whoop from a very happy Dom Early, of Earlybird Designs, who can be seen in the video below.
Zoe Spry managed a little more decorum but that could be put down to the eight-month bump she’s currently sporting and she commented: “I’m so chuffed to have been chosen as a finalist for the Best Spring Range for my Father’s Day Collection. It’s always one of my favourites to design as you can have so much fun with captions.
“I’m also expecting my first baby, so making it as a finalist means even more to me as I soon venture into juggling motherhood and running a business – it’s a reminder that I can do it! I’m due to have a two-week-old baby with me on the awards evening so I will, of course, be wearing my frock and sipping prosecco from the sofa!”
Abacus Cards’ Vicky Kingsnorth said: “We’re thrilled to be a finalist in the Best Photographic Range with our BBC Wild Isles range.
“Our design team have done an excellent job of showcasing a series of stunning and spectacular images of the UK’s wildlife habitats, from some fantastic photographers. We’d like to say a huge thank you to all the judges as well as congratulations and good luck to our fellow finalists.”
Ohh Deer co-founder and md Mark Callaby is hoping seven is a lucky number, commenting: “Thank you to everyone who voted for us in this year’s Henries. We’re in seven product categories which is incredible and it’s such a great achievement for our product team!”
And David Rice-Nicholls, of Ricicle Cards, added: “Amazing news! I’m even more pleased than when I found out Ricicle was shortlisted, haha! Really can’t wait for the awards do in October, all I need to sort out now is my outfit.”
There was double delight for Lil Wabbit with founder Georgi Doig in both the Best Art Range as well as being one of the seven Lynn Tait Most Promising Young Designer Or Artist finalists.
“We’re so thrilled that we paused our beachy dog walk to jump in the sea in our pants!” Georgi laughed. “We still consider ourselves a very young company so to be recognised alongside legends of the industry who have produced such incredible ranges is a real honour!
“We’re also really thrilled to see some smaller publishers make the finals. We have come up through the Ladder Club and trade shows alongside each other and I’m thrilled to be in such new, exciting company as Bird & Co, Little Roglets and Two For Joy.
“I am beyond excited to be a finalist for the Lynn Tait award for the second year running. When launching Lil Wabbit just four years ago, after I took my grandmother’s watercolour paints home following her death, I’d never have guessed I would one day be nominated for an art-based award.
Since last year’s Henries I have been busy beavering away. It’s truly amazing and we can’t wait to get to the awards and party the night away!”
All winners of The Henries 2024 will be announced at a lavish awards event, the industry’s big night at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on Thursday, 3 October, 2024, which takes on an Ancient Rome theme this year.
To book tickets click here. It will be a fabulous opportunity for the greeting card community to get together and celebrate its creative excellence as well as its strong sense of camaraderie.
