Attracting more entries than ever before, from five leading art colleges and universities, the judging for the 4th annual On the Cards design competition, spearheaded by Paper Rose, GF Smith, Paperchase and Sherwood Group has taken place – with the winning entries reflecting the societal trends of wellbeing and environmental concerns.
The first prize went to Luna Paszliewicz of Nottingham Trent University for her Emotionally Sustainable Cards, a concept which featured vegetable pun illustrations of a vegetable or herb, including seeds for the featured plant, all printed on environmentally-friendly board.
The second prize went to Emily Rogers of Leeds Arts University for her Wellbeing Wisdom concept, which centres around a shallow stack of peel away motivational messages affixed to the front of the card.
The idea for the On the Cards competition was born out of a frustration shared by Paper Rose’s creative director Reggie Pugh and GF Smith’s greetings specialist Mark Jessett that art colleges didn’t recognise that the greeting card industry as a viable and credible career path for young creative.
All entries were judged by a panel which comprised Paperchase buyers Hazel Walker and Emma Clooney; The Art Group/Paper Rose trio of Reggie Pugh, Philippa Phipps and Nigel Wilcox; GF Smith’s Mark Jessett; Sherwood’s Nicky Marshall; PG’s Gale Astley and Jakki Brown with Ilona Drew of I Drew This invited as this year’s artist judge.
As part of the prize, the winning entry will be developed into actual product and put on sale in selected Paperchase stores.
As Emma Clooney, card buyer for Paperchase commented: “It is fitting that the winning entries reflect two key current trends – wellbeing and environmental concerns, coupled with a few veggie puns.”
Paperchase colleague Hazel Walker, senior buyer for cards and wrap highlighted the level of innovation that was apparent in some of the entries. “It was great to see so many of the students were thinking outside of the box, submitting greeting card concepts which included added elements, such as stickers, fruit teabags, scented elements, moveable pieces or coming at it from a different angle, such as a range centred around sign language.”
As well as Nottingham Trent University and Leeds Arts University, the other educational establishments who participated in On The Cards this year (each of which received a presentation about the industry from The Art Group and GF Smith) were Staffordshire University, Falmouth University and Swansea College of Art.
“It was lovely that there were Highly Commended and Commended entries from students from all of the colleges showing that creativity is riding high among the next generation of potential card creators,” commented The Art Group’s Philippa Phipps, who has headed up On The Cards this year.
