Apr 27, 2023

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.