US greetings expo expands for summer 2025 as Louies Awards open for entries
US greeting card trade show *Noted is moving to Las Vegas for the upcoming event in summer 2025.
Launched by the American Greeting Card Association in San Francisco in 2019 after the demise of the New York-based National Stationery Show, *Noted will now take place at World Market Center as part of the Las Vegas Market running over 27-31 July.
The US GCA has partnered with markets organiser Andmore, where president Dorothy Belshaw said: “We’re excited to bring an elevated focus on stationery to Las Vegas Market. This expanded platform promises to offer more opportunities for showcasing, networking and celebrating the greeting card category at the west coast’s leading gift market.”
Fresh from his trip to the UK GCA’s AGM & Conference in Bristol last week, the American association’s president Andy Meehan added: “We’re excited to bring our members’ unique greeting cards and *Noted’s artistic and paper design community to the vibrant Las Vegas Market.
“We are proud to help our members share their incredible card and paper newness for 2025! Buyers value the tactile nature of greeting cards, and *Noted gives them the ability to see, touch, and feel cards.”
Several UK publishers and retailers have made the trip across the pond to visit *Noted, and even more Brits have entered the US GCA’s annual Louie Awards, its version of The Henries, with plenty taking home a trophy such as the 2024 winners Paper Salad, Pigeon Loft, Rosie Made A Thing, Ohh Deer, Roger La Borde and The Art File.
The 36th annual Louise Awards ceremony will take place during *Noted, and there will be a display of the winning cards by the Expo hall.
Entries for the 2025 Louies, which cost between $70 (£53) and $125 (£94) each for non-members depending on the submission timing, opened yesterday, 23 September, for US GCA members, with general entries opening on 2 October, and the closing date is 6 January.
Cards have to have been marketed or sold within the US between 1 January and 31 December, 2024, and this year there are 39 categories, including the new Diversity section where two free entries are available to anyone who self-identifies as Black, AAPI, LGBTQIA+, Indigenous, or Latinx. Full details are available here.
All winning cards will automatically be entered in the Consumer’s Choice award where the public, including friends and family, can vote for their favourite design of the year.
