GCA celebrates 2023 Noted @ *Noted finalists, winners
The Greeting Card Association (GCA) announced the winners in the fourth annual Noted @ *Noted Products Awards Competition.
The awards ceremony kicked off off *Noted: The Greeting Card Expo, held in San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center April 27-28.
To keep the focus on fresh design, GCA said, all entries needed to be released on or after Jan. 1, 2023. This year’s competition received a record 238 entries from the 107 stationery makers exhibiting on the sold-out *Noted expo floor.
A small but incredibly esteemed group of judges reviewed the entries: Chandra Greer, owner of GREER Chicago; Daniel Collier, danielrichards; Sarah Schwartz, editor of Stationery Trends magazine and The Paper Nerd; Pei Sim, The Paper + Craft Pantry, Austin, Texas; and Kate Strzok, Broadway Paper, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The first round of entries was reviewed virtually, while the physical cards were reviewed by the judges in the final round to select the winners.
“Although this represents the fourth edition of this competition, last year’s was the first we were able to announce winners in person,” Schwartz said. “Building on that momentum, and shaped by our dedicated community of volunteers, the awards presentation today is only the kick-off of our two-day celebration of cutting-edge greeting card design. Winners were revealed Wheel of Fortune-style this morning; the dynamic display graciously designed and donated by Universal Presentation Concepts allowed us to turn over and reveal card winners to a standing-room only crowd. Tomorrow, we kick off the day with the world’s first greeting card parade of finalists and winners. If you are missing this gathering, you are missing out on a lot!”
Makers competed in 10 categories and the winners are as follows:
Best color combo card
Pier Six Press
Punniest
Inklings Paperie
Best new product line
Seedlings
Funniest card
Spacepig Press
Snarkiest card
Cardideology
Freshest vibe
2021 Co.
Best pattern
Seedlings
Wisest
Calyspo Cards
Most fantastic floral
Odd Daughter Paper Co.
Most marvelous creature
Seedlings
To see all 30 finalists along with the inspiration for their designs, visit ThePaperNerd.com; winners will be shared Monday, May 1. Finalists and winners can also be viewed at greetingcard.org/2023-noted-at-noted-awards.