35th Annual Louie Awards

The annual Louie Awards program has been honoring the best cards in the industry for over 30 years. Brought to you by the Greeting Card Association, the Louie Awards recognize, reward, and celebrate that moment when art, editorial, and design perfectly coalesce to bring these emotions to life and memorialize the numerous milestones in our lives

The Greeting Card Association (GCA) celebrated excellence in greeting cards at its 35^th Annual Louie Awards Ceremony in San Francisco in April 2024. The event took place at The Cowell Theater on the campus of the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture in San Francisco. This year’s competition had an overwhelming response from card makers with a 21% increase in competition entries over last year. 1,229 total cards were submitted in 57 unique categories.

A panel of judges consisting of 78 card publishers, retailers, sales representatives, and stationery industry leaders from across the country carefully reviewed the entries to determine the finalists. After a rigorous selection process, 171 cards were selected as finalists. At the Louie Awards ceremony, 57 cards from 44 different publishers were awarded the prestigious Louie Award, with two taking home Card of Year honors.

During the Louie Awards ceremony, two exceptional cards were honored with the prestigious Cards of the Year recognition. Biely & Shoaf Collection was presented with the Card of the Year $5.50 and Below award, sponsored by Leader Paper, for their remarkable Christmas/Seasonal – General card submission. Roger la Borde was bestowed with the Card of the Year Above $5.50 award for their outstanding Print and Production Excellence card entry.

Furthermore, alongside the individual card accolades, several publishers were acknowledged for their body of work. Magic Paper Labs was honored with the Rising Star award, sponsored by NY NOW, dedicated to publishers operating in retail for three years or less. Kate Woolley of The Noble Paperie was recognized as the Writer of the Year for her exceptional copywriting skills. Lastly, the esteemed Artist of the Year award, sponsored by Indigo Ink, was bestowed upon Daria Hirny of Homework Letterpress Studio in recognition of her remarkable artistic talent.

Along with this year’s 5 new diversity categories, GCA also introduced the new Maker of Note awards. These awards honor and elevate the rich diversity of the makers and publishers within the greeting card community, highlighting the makers themselves. To qualify for a Maker of Note Award, the designer must have self-identified a a member of at least one of the communities and have submitted a minimum of five entries to any combination of award categories. The awards were presented to the individual with the highest average score across all their entries.

Maker of Note Winners:

Asian American/Pacific Islander Maker of Note Award: Janine Kwoh, Kwohtations
Black Maker of Note Award: LeeAnn Brissett, Add Pink and Stir
Indigenous Maker of Note Award: Brigida Swanson, Yardia
Latinx Maker of Note Award: Libby Llanso, Seedlings
LGBTQIA+ Maker of Note Award, Kate Murray, Quick Brown Fox Letterpress

GCA is proud to continue its partnership with Barnes & Noble for the third year with select Louie Award finalist cards available in over 700 Barnes & Noble and 120 Paper Source stores nationwide this summer. GCA has also partnered with Faire to create a Community Page featuring all of this year’s Louie Award-winning brands, bringing more recognition and ultimately more buyers to Louie Award-winning companies.

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