14-15_Henries Finalists 2023.qxp_RH Page 26/04/2023 12:18 Page 1
THE HENRIES FINALISTS
Winning Ways Winning a Henries greeting card award is a great achievement in itself, and when it’s for brightening people’s lives by making them smile in the humour category, that’s the cherry on the top. Redback Cards took the honours in 2022 for its Zeppelinmoon range, with the other finalists being Forest Fr1ends from Whale & Bird, Bold & Bright’s Jeffrey & Janice Romance, Mine’s A Pint from Emotional Rescue, Woodmansterne Publications’ They Can Talk and Words of Wisdom from Dandelion Stationery. PG enjoys some one liners from these funny finalists.
Daft romance Following the romantic adventures of a pair of dolls is how Bold & Bright’s Thea Musselwhite landed a Henries’ finalist place as her card characters Jeffrey and Janice show the daftness of relationships. “Being a finalist in The Henries has been a great boost for my Above: Bold & Bright’s 2023 business,” Thea explained. “Getting your Valentine’s bestseller. cards in front of all the retailers judging is a brilliant way to lead to potential and actual sales. There may be buyers judging that wouldn’t have otherwise come across you.” Jeffrey & Janice Romance has always been one of Bold & Bright’s most popular ranges and Thea adds new designs regularly, such as this year’s bestselling Valentine’s card, and earned the publisher its fourth straight finalist place in the humour category. Having launched two Jeffrey & Janice books, she is currently working on new products to launch at PG Live in June on stand 152. As Thea added: “Doing a trade show is great as it gives me a deadline to work to. When I do my cards, I have to source
all kinds of weird and silly little props to use – and often make them if I can’t find them. “I absolutely love that part, planning the scene for the cards, buying things needed to make the jokes work so expect a lot more silliness coming in time for PG Live!”
Talk to the animals If you’ve ever wondered what your pets are saying, They Can Talk from Woodmansterne is the perfect card collection. Coming from the pen of US cartoonist Jimmy Craig, he produces illustrations which reflect the conversations he believes animals may have – with brilliant and hilarious results. Exhibiting at PG Live.
Above: If only they could talk – oh, Woodmansterne’s range makes them.
Right: A very happy Jo Wilson at The Henries and some of her Words of Wisdom cards.
Jo’s wisdom pays off Dandelion Stationery created the first Words of Wisdom cards in 2014, born from founder Jo Wilson’s desire for a small collection of humorous designs that were occasionally sentimental – and, like Topsy, it’s just grown and grown! Jo admits: “The collection just seems to have a life of its own. The concept was a simple illustration with the focus always on the contemporary words used in many designs. It’s all about enabling people to send a card, sometimes in situations where the words on the front of the card were key, and these gave the message to the recipient.” Words of Wisdom was one of the humour finalists in the 2022 Henries but scooped the main prize in the Best Contemporary Words & Sentiment category, much to Jo’s delight. Dandelion added around 25 new designs to the range in January, which have all been well received, and Jo, who does all her designs on an iPad because “you won't believe the amount of corrections I make to anything I do!”, and her team are working on a further 15 designs to launch at PG Live in June.
14 Focus On Humour Cards