Call for Entries Information
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Entry Timeline:
- October 6 – January 14: Call for Submissions Open. Enter here.
- October 6 – October 13: GCA Members ONLY – Buy 4, get the 5th free special
- October 14 – November 2: Early Bird Pricing
- November 3 – December 31: Regular Pricing
- January 1 – January 14: Late Pricing
- January 19: Cards samples due in the office.
- February 1 – February 19: Judging
- End of February/Early March: Finalists Announced
- September 2027: Winners Announced
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Process for Submitting a Card:
- Determine Eligibility (scroll down to view)
- Choose your category
- Create an account on our award platform, Award Force
- Log in and go to My Entries
- Start a New Entry (entries will be open for submissions on October 6 for members and October 14 for non-members)
- Click Add to Cart
- If you want to submit multiple entries, you can either duplicate a previous one or start a new entry.
- Check out and pay for your entries
- The deadline to enter is Thursday, January 14, 2027.
- Mail in your physical samples for judging
- The deadline for cards to arrive in the office is Tuesday, January 19, 2027, but the earlier the better!
- Mailing guidelines can be found here.
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Cost to Enter
| Early Bird Value Price – GCA MEMBERS ONLY | Early Bird | Regular | Late | |
| October 6 – 13 | October 14 – November 2 | November 3 – December 31 | January 1 – January 14 | |
| GCA Member Price | $60 (Buy 4, Get 5th Free) | $60 | $75 | $90 |
| Non-Member Price | N/A | $75 | $105 | $130 |
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Complimentary Entries for Diverse Makers
GCA is dedicated to diversifying the Louie Awards and highlighting makers and companies from underrepresented communities in our industry. We are offering two free Louie entries to any maker who self-identifies as part of the following communities: Black, AAPI, LGBTQIA+, Indigenous, Latinx.
These free entries can ONLY be used for the following categories:
- Celebrating LGBTQIA+
- Celebrating Latinx Culture
- Celebrating Black Culture
- Celebrating AAPI Culture
- Celebrating Indigenous Culture
To get a discount code to submit to these categories, check back here once entries open to everyone on October 14th.
Have Additional Questions?
If you have additional questions that aren’t answered here, check out our Frequently Asked Questions page for more helpful information. Still don’t see your answer? Email gca@greetingcard.org.
Eligibility/Entry Requirements:
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:
- The card must have been marketed or sold in the U.S. between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2026.
- This DOES NOT mean the card has to have been released in 2026. It just has to have been marketed or sold in 2026.
- Cards must have a total production quantity of at least 200 units by the time of submission. This may be across multiple production runs, including print-on-demand production. For Invitations & Announcements, it must come from a run of 50 or more.
- No samples or prototypes may be submitted for judging.
- No cards that have been entered in previous years may be re-entered, except for cards submitted for Rising Star, Writer of the Year and Artist of the Year.
- If you are submitting for a category that is $6 and Below, the card must retail for a cost at or below $6
- You may enter as many cards as you’d like into a single category.
- You may NOT enter the same card in multiple categories.
- The exceptions to this rule are Rising Star, Writer of the Year, and Artist of the Year categories because these recognize companies instead of a single card.
- Non-traditional card formats are welcome across all Louie categories. If your card is oversized, miniature, unusually shaped, or otherwise outside a standard greeting-card format, enter it in the category that best fits its message or occasion.
CATEGORY REQUIREMENTS:
- For a category to be judged, there must be a minimum of seven total entries from at least three different companies. If the minimum is not met, entries will be combined with alternate price point of same category where possible*. At the discretion of the committee and based on the number of cards in a category, your card may be moved or combined with another category.
- If the above criteria are not met, applicants may move their card(s) to a different category if applicable or will be refunded entry fees.
RISING STAR REQUIREMENTS:
- The company must be in business for three years or less.
- The company must have sold their first official card on or after January 1, 2024, to be eligible.
- Entrants must submit five cards so that judges can evaluate the collection as a whole.
SMALL COMPANY CATEGORY REQUIREMENTS:
- The company must have five or fewer full-time employees.
We look forward to the Louie Awards every year. I love to see the beautiful work that comes from the designers and companies from across the country and around the world.
Become a GCA Member
Every GCA member saves on their Louie Awards card entries. But there are so many reasons to join. The GCA today represents nearly 200 American and international publishers from diverse businesses – ranging from young start-ups to established companies of all sizes, scopes and years in the industry – as well as suppliers that provide production services and product distribution at the wholesale level.