Henries Winners pages 2024 A4 FINAL VERSION.qxp_Layout 1 24/10/2024 11:59 Page 22
Best
Service to the Independent Retailer Category Sponsor
Initial Reaction: “On hearing the announcement that we had won the Bronze award I was delighted and my initial thoughts were of great pride in the whole Words ‘n’ Wishes’ team for this great achievement. It also came as a bit of a shock after 13 years of providing what we thought was exceptional service and being in the coveted top 12 nominations for many years, but not quite managing to get on the podium. Rod [Brown, co-founder] and I are so pleased for everyone at our head office, in our studio, warehouse and salesforce out on the road, who all made this happen. Finally, we would like to thank all our customers for their votes and continued support.” Carl Salt co-owner of Words ‘n’ Wishes Above: (second right) Words ‘n’ Wishes’ co-owner Carl Salt went on stage with his wife (second left) Jill, warehouse supervisor for the publisher to accept the Bronze trophy from Penny Shaw, managing director of Cardgains. Below: Penny Shaw, managing director of Cardgains, sponsor of this award category announced all three winners for this prestigious award category.
Open to: This award recognises the pivotal role publishers play in providing a good service to independent retailers. The finalists in this category were arrived at as a result of an exhaustive poll, involving 1,750 independent greeting card retailers, who were each asked to nominate their top three card suppliers on the service front over the last year. These responses were then correlated, awarding three points to all first choices, two points to those mentioned as second choices and one point for all third choices. These points were then totalled to arrive at the 12 finalists. There are three awards in this category – a Bronze, Silver and ultimate Gold, that are presented to the top three scoring suppliers in the retailer poll.
BRONZE WINNER Inset: A happy night for Words ‘n’ Wishes’ Carl and Jill Salt.
PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 61