Dotty About Braille and Little Boat Gifts among 2024 Small Awards finalists
Little Boat Gifts and Dotty About Braille are leading the charge for the greeting card industry in the 2024 Small Awards.
Having made it on to the shortlist for the High Street Hero category, Olivia Reilly’s Brightlingsea shop Little Boat Gifts is recognised as part of the community, actively supporting local charities and events.
Among the nine finalists in the category are The Secret Bookshelf in Carrickfergus – which has already won the Best Indie Bookstore Ireland 2024 title this year – and Wave Of Nostalgia in Haworth, a bookshop themed on strong women.
They’re all going forward to the Small Awards black-tie dinner on Thursday, 16 May, along with the finalists in the other 11 categories, Bricks & Clicks, Legacy, Supply Chain Champion, New Kid On The Block, Digital Star, Heart Of Gold, At Your Service, Sole To Sole, Mission Possible, Net Hero, and Small Business Of The Year.
And it’s a particularly big day for Hayley Kellard as her Dotty About Braille brand is up for the New Kid On The Block title in the awards run by Small Business Britain, which campaigns for the small business sector and organises Small Business Saturday.
Amazingly the publisher offering a tactile greeting card range featuring the raised dot language of braille is also a finalist in the Health, Wellbeing & Accessible Gifts category of Gift Of The Year 2024 where the winners will be announced on the same day at The Gift Awards at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel.
Also in the New Kid finalists’ list is The Book Nook, a small bookshop with tea room in Tollesbury, and the Bricks & Clicks sector features The Snug Bookshop & Café, in Huish Episcopi, while the Digital Star finalists include Postboxed gifts and greetings service.
Judges for the Small Awards include British Independent Retailers’ Association ceo Andrew Goodacre, small business commissioner for the UK Liz Barclay, Gosbert Chagula who sits on the UK Department of Business & Industrial Strategy’s sme engagement group, and Matt Smith, director of research and policy at the Global Entrepreneurship Network. The full list of finalists can be found here.
