It is with great sadness that the organisers of The Retas 2020 greeting card retailer awards (Max Publishing) have announced that the awards have been cancelled for this year due to the ramifications of Covid-19. The closing date for entering this year’s Retas awards had been extended to next Tuesday (August 11) and the awards event had been pushed back to November 11, from their original date in July, in the hope that these respected annual awards would happen.
“For everyone’s sake, we so wanted The Retas to be able to go ahead, but in our heart of hearts knew that the immense upheaval caused by the ongoing pandemic and the ramifications on retailers’ businesses makes the judging of these respected awards highly problematic,” explained Jakki Brown, joint managing director of Max Publishing, which owns and organises The Retas.
“In order to maintain the integrity of the awards, we have taken the incredibly difficult decision to cancel The Retas 2020. We commiserate with all our wonderful retailers who have taken the time and trouble to enter and thank all our sponsors for their understanding in supporting this decision, with their sponsorship carrying over to next year. Rest assured, we will make sure that The Retas 2021 will be one to remember, when we will all be able to really enjoy celebrating together,” added Warren Lomax, joint managing director of Max Publishing.
The Retas 2021 awards event will revert back to the historic July dateline (specific date to the announced), and the entry and nomination process will commence in early Spring next year.