The Giftware Association

from Gifts Today August September 2021

With Autumn Fair set to open its doors again from 5-8 September at Birmingham’s NEC, we caught up with Event Director Jessica Dawnay to learn what the show will have in store for retailers

‘Gift of the Year 2022 is open!’

Chris Workman, PR and marketing manager for The GA, looks ahead to the 44th edition of these annual awards, and explains how it can help reach key buyers and retailers

Chris Workman

This year is all about seeing those gifts in real life ‘ and meeting the people behind the brands ‘

The largest competition in the gift and home industry opened at Harrogate Home & Gift Buyers’ Festival on 18 July. The Giftware Association is very excited to see what amazing products and designs will be entered this year and what the creative industries have been hard at work on during the last year.

This year is all about seeing those gifts in real life and meeting the people behind the brands. We will also be celebrating the winners from the previous year since it was a fully digital competition. We have also made a few tweaks to the back end of our website to make the user journey even smoother and for your products to be seen in their best light. We are also excited to get out and about at trade shows again and look forward to meeting as many entrants as possible.

If you are new to the competition, Gift of the Year celebrates the best products in the home and gift industry and aims to elevate your brand and products to the audience that matters the most – the buyers and retailers. ‘Recognition via the awards has increased sales within our existing specialist marketplace and opened up sales in entirely new target markets, said the team at Hot Smoked. ‘Entering Gift of the Year creates a buzz around a product and the awards are seen as an industry highlight which helps a business like ours with publicity and marketing,’ said the team at Cheatwell Games.

This year’s competition will see the same 20 categories as last year and we will also welcome back the People’s Choice awards where the judging was opened up to the end consumers and general public, giving your products even more exposure to a buying audience. This year we will allow entry to the People’s Choice Award for all shortlisted companies.

Hot off the heels of the winners’ brochure being released a couple of weeks ago, the online brochure features the winners and highly commended products from last year’s competition, as well as shortlisted companies for the first time ever to enable extra exposure.

Look out for The Giftware Association team at coming shows or, if you would like more information, view last year’s winners or to enter then please visit the awards website, or email me on: chris.workman@ga-uk.org.