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The Greeting Card Association (GCA) celebrated excellence in greeting cards on April 27, at its 33rd Annual Louie Awards ceremony held at Gallery 308 on the campus of the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. Winners of the prestigious awards were announced from among 612 entries in 51 categories. Finalists were whittled down to 153 cards by a panel of 42 industry judges around the country. 53 cards from 29 different publishers ultimately received a coveted Louie Award.

“The Louies are the top honor in the greeting card industry, as the cards are judge anonymously in five distinct areas: originality, impact, design excellence, sendability, and value,” Nora Weiser, executive director for GCA said.

Highest Honors

Two cards received highest honors as Cards of the Year.

Seedlings

• Seedlings as Card of the Year above $5 for their submission in the Sympathy category.

Good Juju Ink

• Good Juju Ink for Card of the Year under $5 entered in the Friendship/Encouragement category.

Additional Honors

In addition to individual cards recognized for excellence, several prestigious cardmakers were honored in categories that recognize a body of work rather than an individual card.

Rising Star

• She Said It was awarded the Rising Star honor reserved for publishers who have been selling at retail for three years or less.

Writer of the Year

• Writer of the Year honors went to Morgan Harper Nichols of Biely & Shoaf Co.,

Artist of the Year

• The coveted Artist of the Year honors went to Elicia Castaldi of Girl w/Knife.

The full list of 2022 Louie Award winning cards can be found on the GCA website.

“I was honored to serve as Chair for this year’s Louie Awards committee,” Kate Murray from Quick Brown Fox Letterpress said. “It was amazing to get back to celebrating with an in-person awards ceremony, to recognize the creativity of this industry, and to have the energy and commitment of so many makers contribute to making the Louies such a success.”

Those attending *Noted: The Greeting Card Expo co-located with SF NOW, April 28-29 at Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion can view all the Louie finalists and winners in a display created by Universal Presentation Concepts.

Consumers can buy select Louie finalist cards this summer at Barnes & Noble stores around the country, and can also vote for their favorite cards as part of the Louies Consumer Choice Awards now through July 31, 2022 here. Winners of that public competition will be announced at next year’s awards ceremony.