News

The Greeting Card Association (GCA) is excited to partner with Barnes & Noble to showcase select greeting cards from the industry’s 33^rd annual Louie Award contest on retail displays this summer. It shared the news in a recent email that stated:

Hey GCA members,

We wanted to share some exciting news with you regarding this year’s Louie Award finalists and Barnes & Noble.

About decade ago, Andy Meehan (current VP/Treasurer of the GCA) imagined, as the Strategic Chair of the Louies, that it would be wonderful to have consumers and retailers even more engaged in the celebration of the Louie Awards, thus creating more sales for a winning publisher and creating consumer awareness for the winners (as we see in other industries like Grammy’s, Oscars, Booker Prize, Caldicott Toy Awards) etc.

As you may know, Barnes & Noble, in 2020 and 2021 embarked on a reimagining of their greeting card department, including buying from many different greeting card publishers and makers. For the first time ever in a major retailer, the Greeting Card Association (GCA) is excited to partner with Barnes & Noble to showcase select greeting cards from this year’s Louie Awards on retail displays this summer. A selection of the cards named as Louie Award finalists will be carried in all Barnes & Noble locations from coast to coast. Barnes and Noble will also have signage in the card department showing selected Louie Award finalists.

If you are a Louie Award finalist, you will be contacted directly with additional information.

A big thank you to Andy Meehan for his work to bring this vision to life. It’s an exciting announcement for our Association and will help us to promote the Louie Awards for years to come!

Sincerely,
GCA Staff

“We’re thrilled that Barnes & Noble will be bringing many Louie Award card finalists into their stores,” said Nora Weiser, executive director for GCA. “While the Louies have been a mainstay of creative excellence within the industry for over 30 years, this is the first time that shoppers will have nearly instant access to these best in class card designs in a national retailer.”

About the Louie Awards

Launched in 1988, the “Louies” honor Louis Prang, the German-born Boston lithographer and publisher known as the “Father of the American Christmas Card.”  Nearly 200 companies submitted hundreds of entries in 51 categories in this year’s competition. Fifty-five companies had at least one card design selected by the industry judging panel as finalists – three per category. The Louie Awards are open to all publishers in the U.S. and throughout the world.

For more information on the Louie Awards, visit https://www.greetingcard.org/louie-awards/.