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The Henries 2018 Judging Process
Left: Unit 7’s Andrea Pinder loved being a Henries’ judge. Right: The Henries 2018 judging gets underway. Below: PG’s offices were deluged with Henries entries. Bottom: As sponsor of The Lynn Tait Most Promising Young Designer or Artist, Daisy Enticott (left) and Lucy Sumner (both of Paperchase) were delighted by the quality of the entries in this category.
The Preparation Throughout June and July, PG’s offices were deluged with boxes, Jiffy bags and envelopes, boldly marked ‘The Henries’. Together they created a mountain of packages containing over 15,000 greeting cards, sheets of giftwrap and giftbags, submitted from well over 200 different UK publishers. All greeting cards submitted for The Henries 2018 are treated equally, whether they are sent in by a multinational company, a new start-up one-man band publisher and everything in between. The Henries are free of charge to enter meaning the awards are open to all. Each entry is logged in and assigned a number. One card design from each entry is retained for archive purposes while the other cards in each submission are mounted onto their own large display board. A label was affixed to the top of each board that prominently featured a distinct entry number as well as the RRP(s) of the mounted cards. To overcome any preconceived ideas judges might have had of publishers, the brand and company name of each submission for the product entries are concealed. In the case of The Lynn Tait Most Promising Young Designer or Artist category those entering were invited to submit their own ready-mounted boards if they wished. For the Henry Cole Classic award, publishers were asked for some substantiating text to demonstrate how and why the range has stood the test of time.
The Judging Process The judging for all the product categories, as well as The Lynn Tait Most Promising Young Designer or Artist, took place on a single day, in premises adjacent to PG’s London offices. The criteria for judging were: l Quality of Design l Quality of print, production and manufacture l Appropriateness for the market sector at which it is aimed l Value for money All entries were put on display category by category. The judges considered all entries in each category, individually selecting the five entries they deemed to be the best in each category. Judging forms were completed by writing the corresponding entry numbers, in order of merit, in the relevant boxes on the form. Points were then awarded accordingly by the adjudication team; five points being assigned to the entries each judge felt was the best in the category down to one point for the fifth choice. The points from all the judges’ forms were then correlated to arrive at the winner and five other finalists. The winners will only be revealed at The Henries 80s Electric Dreams awards, an evening event taking place on Thursday October 4 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.
Which Ranges Were Eligible To Enter? Entering The Henries 2018 was open to all UK publishers, as well as UK-based distributors of card publishers from overseas. Publishers were invited to enter ranges that had been launched since August 1 2017 or new designs that had been added to ongoing ranges. The Henry Cole Classic award is slightly different in that this is for ranges that have stood the test of time and therefore the onus is on the heritage and evolution of the brand rather than just the new designs in the range. Publishers could enter as many categories as they wished, with as many entries in each category as they wanted. Above: Creased Cards’ Danny Ingram considers the relative merits of some of the entries.
PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
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