The Greeting Card Association (GCA) has announced the LOUIE Award finalists were announced during *Noted: The Greeting Card Expo. The Greeting Card Associaion (GCA) will reveal the winners on July 8, 2021, from 6:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. (ET) in a virtual format. 

New Award Categories

This year, the Greeting Card Association (GCA) has added a few new categories for the awards program:

Celebrating Diversity & Inclusion

• Cards for an increasingly diverse, unique, and wonderful world.

Trends & Events

• Cards that reflect the current times, trends, and events.

Special Recognition

• Illustrator of the Year
• Writer of the Year

Judging

The GCA organized a judging panel of 19 industry experts including retailers, publishers and designers. These professionals judged all the entries against five criteria: originality, impact, design excellence, “sendability,” and value. Cards of the Year were selected by a Blue-Ribbon Panel of five judges, which chose to honor the Judge’s Award for Excellence from among all categories. All judges recuse themselves from judging their own company cards.

Finalists

Here are some of the finalists. For a comprehensive list of finalists, visit GCA’s website.

Birthday – General (Above $5)

• Elūm Designs
• DG Americas, NIQUEA.D
• Papyrus

Blank Card

• Quilling Card
• Just My Type Letterpress
• Quilling Card

Congratulations/Special Occasion (Above $5)

• Papyrus
• Seedlings
• Up with Paper

Christmas/Seasonal – General ($5 and Below)

• Inklings Paperie
• Good Juju Ink
• Great Arrow Graphics

Father’s Day

• E. Francis Paper
• Louise Mulgrew
• Hallmark Cards

Thank You

• DG Americas, NIQUEA.D
• Good Juju Ink
• Designer Greetings

Birthday – Humorous

• Elūm Designs
• American Greetings
• Red Oak Press

Christmas/Seasonal – Boxed Set

• Artists to Watch
• The LANG Companies
• Gift Card Impressions

Sympathy ($5 and Below)

• E. Frances Paper
• Hallmark Cards
• The Noble Paperie

Everyday Boxed Set

• Just My Type Letterpress
• Artists to Watch
• UWP Luxe

Get Well/Feel Better

• Warren Tales
• DG Americas, NIQUEA.D
• Paper Salad

Registration is now open for the Virtual Louie Awards Ceremony, which will be held on July 8.