May 18, 2011

23rd Annual LOUIE Awards Winners Announced

New York, NY – On Monday, May 16th, 2011, The Greeting Card Association (GCA) honored the 23rd Annual LOUIE winners in 53 different categories at a special gala event at Espace on 42nd St. in Manhattan. The winners were chosen by a panel of 22 retailers, industry suppliers, independent sales representatives and first-time blogger judges during the official judging, which took place February 2 – 3, 2011, in conjunction with the New York International Gift Fair, also in New York City.

An exciting new venue for the Awards, Espace, located on Manhattan’s West Side near the Jacob K. Javits Center, hosted 300 attendees comprised of nominees, industry members, LOUIE entrants, retailers, sales representatives and members of the press. Centerpieces designed by Designer Greetings incorporated this year’s mailbox logo and a script written by Kathy Krassner, the Greeting Card Association’s Director of Communications, further exemplified this year’s theme, Connection: It’s in the Cards. Guests enjoyed passed hors d’oeuvres and a signature LOUIE cocktail as they mingled with the best and the brightest in the industry and observed the nominee display during the cocktail hour. Guests were then seated for dinner and the Awards ceremony, followed by dessert, dancing, and the celebration and photographing of the winners.

The Card of the Year in the Above $3.50 category was American Greetings’ “Hamburger! Hamburger! Yakety Yaks” card. The winner in the $3.50 and Below category was icanhascheezburger in Partnership with the Madison Park Group’s “Best. Day. Ever.” card. Crane & Company’s Sympathy card received an Honorable Mention. The winners in each of the 53 categories, 25 of which were divided by price, are as follows:

Papyrus Birthday – Children Above $3.50

Great Arrow Graphics Birthday – Children $3.50 and below

Papyrus Birthday – General Above $3.50

Icanhascheezburger in partnership with The Madison Park Group Birthday – General $3.50 and Below

American Greetings Birthday – Humorous Above $3.50

Maggie’s Quill, Inc. Birthday – Humorous $3.50 and below

Turnowsky Ltd. Blank Above $3.50

Paper Magic Group, Inc Blank $3.50 and below

Papyrus Celebration – Non-religious Above $3.50

Great Arrow Graphics Celebration – Non-religious $3.50 and below

Hevea Arts Celebration – Religious Above $3.50

Naos Graphics Celebration – Religious $3.50 and below

Old Tom Foolery Christmas/Seasonal – Humorous Above $3.50

NobleWorks Inc. Christmas/Seasonal – Humorous $3.50 and below

Up With Paper, LLC Christmas/Seasonal – General Above $3.50

Great Arrow Graphics Christmas/Seasonal – General $3.50 and below

The Museum of Modern Art Christmas/Seasonal – Boxed/Catalog Above $2.50

Anna Griffin Inc. Christmas/Seasonal – Boxed/Catalog $2.50 and below

Some of me Congratulatory/Special occasion Above $3.50

Some of me Congratulatory/special occasion $3.50 and below

Charu Overseas Custom Invitation/Announcement Above $2.50

Bella Adorna Custom Invitation/Announcement $2.50 and below

Compendium, Inc. Everyday boxed note Above $2.50

Pretty Stationery for Beautiful Souls Everyday Boxed Note $2.50 and below

Speckles & Weeds Family Celebrations Above $3.50

Shannon Martin/Girl Designer for The Madison Park Group Family Celebrations $3.50 and below

Screech Owl Design Friendship/Encouragement – General Above $3.50

Madison Park Greetings Friendship/Encouragement – General $3.50 and below

Janine Yordy LLC Friendship/Encouragement – Humorous Above $3.50

Dog Is Good Friendship/Encouragement -Humorous $3.50 and below

Paper Magic Group, Inc. Get Well/Feel Better Above $3.50

Design Design Get Well/Feel Better $3.50 and below

Marsupial Pouches & Papers Invitation Suite Above $7.00

Arabella Papers Invitation Suite $7.00 and below

DaySpring Cards Mother’s Day Above $3.50

Amy Smyth Made It Mother’s Day $3.50 and below

Anna Griffin Inc. Packaged/Imprintable Invitation/Announcement Above $2.50

Anna Griffin Inc. Packaged/Imprintable Invitation/Announcement $2.50 and below

Arabella Papers Personalized Photo Card Above $2.50

Anna Griffin Inc. Personalized Photo Card $2.50 and below

American Greetings Production Innovations Above $3.50

Checkerboard, Inc. Production Innovations $3.50 and below

Red Oak Press Rising Star Above $3.50

Stationery Works, Inc. Rising Star $3.50 and below

Sugarcube Press Romantic Occasions Above $3.50

Great Arrow Graphics Romantic Occasions $3.50 and below

Crane & Co. Sympathy Above $3.50

Madison Park Greetings Sympathy $3.50 and below

Avanti Press, Inc. Thank You Above $3.50

Compendium, Inc. Thank You $3.50 and below

Crane & Co. Valentine’s Day Above $3.50

Great Arrow Graphics Valentine’s Day $3.50 and below

Amy Smyth Made It Superbly Stated

Of the 960 entries from 160 companies worldwide, 159 total cards reached the final round of the 2010 Awards. Entrants included companies from Canada, Israel, India and England; small independent publishers and largely recognized companies. All entries were marketed and sold in the United States during the 2010 calendar year; each entry was reviewed based on reworked criteria that included Originality, Impact, Design Excellence, Sendability and Value. Many of these companies were first-time LOUIE entrants, and of these companies almost 30% became finalists. While many of the larger and more widely recognized companies such as American Greetings and Papyrus took home a large number of awards, these first-time entrant companies made their mark in many of the categories, including the Rising Star category, in which the winning company had to have been in business for three years or less. In addition to the classic greeting card occ asion holidays such as Valentine’s and Mother’s Day, new categories such as Family Celebrations and Personalized Photo Card saw a vast number of entries. The newly redefined invitation categories were also recognized, and saw many of the most thoughtful and elaborate entries in the competition. All entrants responded to a Call for Entries sent out in early November.

Andy Meehan of Development Solutions Global, who acted as this year’s LOUIE Chair, will act as Strategic Chair, a position created to perform a studied and expansive revamp of the Awards as a whole, over a three-year period. Some of the significant changes that Andy and the LOUIE Committee, whose members consist of Patti Stracher, Show Manager of the NSS, Chip Owen of Avanti Press, and John Mavrakis, have performed this year include the addition of representatives from prominent retailers such as Kate’s Paperie, Books Are Fun and Barnes & Noble, the inclusion of manufacturer, printer, and supplier information in the more widely distributed LOUIE program book, and the solicitation of outside-industry sponsors such as the United States Postal Service, one of this years’ LOUIEs Gold Sponsors, whose company interests align with those of the greeting card industry and the Greeting Card Association. Additional planned change s aim to ensure that the LOUIE Awards are more valuable, meaningful, and profitable to those companies that enter and win a LOUIE Award, as well as to the industry as a whole. This year also marked the LOUIE Awards’ foray into social media, with a LOUIE Awards Facebook page and Twitter feed.

In addition to a personalized award, the nominees and winners are showcased in a special LOUIE Awards display designed by Universal Presentation Concepts (UPC), the winner of a first-time competition between leading fixturing companies. UPC has created a one-of-a-kind “card store” for the nominees and winners, and their design will be used to display nominees for next year’s 24th Annual LOUIE Awards as well. UPC has been partnering with businesses to produce stunning fixtures and displays for over three decades, designing and manufacturing displays for the gift and stationery industries, as well as for many other consumer products, manufacturers and retailers. UPC designs and manufactures all of its fixturing concepts under one roof, with a full complement of design, customer service, account management, production, shipping and warehousing services. The company’s manufacturing capabilities reside in over 120,000 square feet in which all assembly, printing, fabrication, finishing and commercial case work takes place.

The 23rd Annual LOUIE Awards would not be possible without the generous support of this year’s sponsors, both in-kind and monetary. This year’s sponsors include The United States Postal Service, GLM and the National Stationery Show, American Greetings, Glory Moon, Hallmark Cards, Inc., JAST Company, Ltd., Infinity Foils, Universal Engraving, both UEI companies, Bobst Group North America, FREEMAN, Greetings etc., Manny Stone Decorators, and Stationery Trends.

For more information about the 24th Annual LOUIE Awards and the Greeting Card Association, visit http://www.greetingcard.org/, where next year’s theme will be posted, as well as up-to-the-minute information about the Call for Entries, judging, sponsorships and everything “LOUIE.” In addition, visit the LOUIE Awards’ Facebook page and follow @LOUIEAwards on Twitter for updates.

Media Contact:

Rachel Lexier, BDE

Rachel@BDEONLINE.biz

212.353.1383