Makers, please start your design engines: The 2022 Noted @ *Noted Awards are officially open for entries! I am thrilled to help oversee this über-competitive greeting card design competition for the third year running. This year’s winning crop will be announced and celebrated live and in person at *Noted: The Greeting Card Expo on April 28-29 at San Francisco’s vibrant Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. If the Louie Awards are the Academy Awards of the greeting card industry, these are our community’s edgy Grammy Awards.
The day entries opened — January 15 — was also the day that the Greeting Card Association scheduled its annual industry mixer at Atlanta Market. As 2021 waned and that day approached, the stars seemed in perfect alignment.
Over the winter holidays I collaborated with my amazing *Noted subcommittee — Christy Asper of Paper Baristas, Kate Murray of Quick Brown Fox Letterpress, who is already chairing the Louie Awards, Alexandra Burrow of Sublime Co., and Daniela-Karin Raffl of Lykkefund Paper — to create a promotional poster to hang at the event, complete with a QR code to start entries.
Unfortunately, Omicron had other plans for in-person gatherings this month, and the mixer was cancelled. But I was determined to make it to Atlanta no matter what … so, with a lot of design assistance from the subcommittee, I crafted my very first rosette, complete with QR code, to wear and help spread the word as I walked the show. Here I am in the press room just before hitting the floor. It was my first time at Atlanta Market since Summer 2019, so I was definitely smiling under my mask!
To keep everything super-fresh, all entries must have been released after January 1, 2022. Please review maker eligibility, categories and entry requirements; these have been updated. For example, we retired the “Best CoronaCard” category in favor of “Best Card for Nutty Times.” And, I seriously hope our brand-new Funniest Card category gets a lot of great entries — frankly, we can all use them about now!
In regards to judging, the all-star band is back together. I am again joined by Dan Collier of Daniel Richards, Archer Paper Goods and The Merchant Atlanta; Chandra Greer of GREER Chicago; Chelsea Shukov of Sugar Paper and Audrey Woollen of Urbanic Paper Boutique.
You have until March 11, 2022 to submit those entries. *Noted and SF Now exhibitors get their first entry free and then pay $25 each four up to four additional entries, for a maximum of five. GCA members who are not exhibiting at *Noted, but who sell through the GCA Marketplace, GCA’s online B2B platform, may submit up to four entries for $30 each. Each maker can only submit one entry per category and may enter each card just once.
The first round of judging will be conducted online; all finalists will then be asked to send in samples to me to distribute for the second round of judging. Finalists and winners will be displayed in a dedicated area at *Noted, and winners will be announced on the opening day!
After two very long years of virtually gathering, I am so excited at the prospect of celebrating the best in greeting card design in person! However, the competition can’t truly reflect the our vibrant community if a wide swath of makers don’t enter. So please do just that, and if you hit a snag at any point, just give me a shout at sarah@thepapernerd.com. If I don’t have the answer, I will get it to you ASAP! Best of luck to everyone.
