The Henries Awards 2022 Review
Hosted by Northern Irish comedian and TV personality Patrick Kielty, the annual prestigious Henries awards 2022 took place last night (Thursday, 6 October) at The Royal Lancaster, London, and celebrated yet another successful year for the greeting cards industry – handing out awards to the very best card ranges from all corners of the country.
After all the awards were distributed, the winning categories for The Art File included; Best Art Range with Natural Phenomenon, and Best Christmas Box with our Luxury Christmas Box range for the fourth consecutive year! We also landed an all-important bronze medal in the Best Service to Independent Retailers category – our highest ever finish to date!
Ged Mace, Managing Director, said: “I’m so proud to be returning home with these awards and can’t wait to celebrate with the rest of the team soon.
“We started The Art File in 1997 and have come a long way since then, but our core values have always remained the same; to publish beautiful greeting cards and provide excellent customer service. The fact that we’re still being recognised by retailers far and wide for these two integral parts our of business means everything to us.
“We’re fortunate to have such incredibly talented and dedicated staff at The Art File and without their unwavering commitment and hard work, what we’ve achieved tonight wouldn’t be possible.
“The standard of all the other finalists, and even those who haven’t been shortlisted tonight, is constantly getting better and better which is great to see as it means we’re all pushing each other to think outside the box. Ultimately, and most importantly, this means our industry is always developing and improving!”
The Henries, which are playfully referred to in the industry as “the Oscars of the greeting cards business” are named after Sir Henry Cole, who created the first commercially produced Christmas card in 1843. Subsequently, the Henries awards were first held in 1996 as an annual awards ceremony to celebrate and shine a spotlight on the best greeting card ranges in the UK.
Since then, the Henries have grown in both popularity and reputation as the awards are considered ultimate accolade in the industry with approximately 14,000 cards and ranges entered each year.
Event organiser Warren Lomax, Max Publishing, said: “This year saw a record number of entries, submitted by 283 publishers and we had more retailer judges than we have ever had before involved in the judging process. And the sheer quality of entrants was off the scale!”
Entries are open to any UK-based publishers from the largest multi-national companies to the smallest one-person independents. All entries were then shortlisted and voted for by retailers and buyers all over the country.
Ged concludes: “The fact that the Henries are voted for by retailers makes winning these awards even more special.
“We feel so lucky to be heading back home with two new trophies and a top 3 finish for our customer service, but it just motivates us to keep doing what we do best – publishing great cards and putting smiles on faces all over the world.”
The Art File were also shortlisted for Best Licensed Range, Best Cute Range, Best Contemporary Range, Best Male Range and Best Occasions & Relations Range.
See the full list of winners here
We’ll be updating our socials throughout the trade show. Keep up to date via our social media platforms through these links - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok – or just search The Art File! You can also follow Autumn Fair’s socials here: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Remember, everyone at Team Art File is here to help. As always, if you have any questions about our new products, or anything else, please send an email to sales@theartfile.com and we’ll be happy to help.
