The American Greeting Card Association has announced that Madison Park Greetings’ “Bliss” card, by artist Katie Daisy, has won this year’s Consumer’s Choice LOUIE Award. The award is given to the card that receives the most “Likes” on the LOUIE Awards Facebook page, following the posting of images of all winning cards from the GCA’s annual LOUIE Awards competition.
“The Consumer’s Choice contest raises awareness at the consumer level about greeting cards as an art form and medium for expression,” said GCA president Susan January. “This empowers consumers to voice their opinions and let manufacturers and retailers know which cards they’d like to see carried in stores.”
This year marked the 25th anniversary of the esteemed LOUIE Awards, considered the “Oscars” of the greeting card industry, and the winners were announced at an elegant awards ceremony and gala held at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, in New York City, on Sunday, May 19. The “Bliss” card won top honors in the Romantic Occasions — $3.50 & Below category.
The day after the gala, photographs of all the winning cards were posted on the LOUIEs Facebook page, and fans were invited to vote for their favorite. The contest took place from Monday, May 20, through Friday, May 31, and consumers cast their vote by issuing a “Like” for their top choice. Madison Park Greetings’ “Bliss” card garnered 174 “Likes”; the company will receive its actual Consumer’s Choice LOUIE Award at next year’s gala.
Two years ago the GCA implemented the Consumer’s Choice contest as a way of increasing the value and notoriety associated with winning a LOUIE Award. In addition, because the award is all about the consumer, one lucky voter has been chosen at random to receive one of each of the winning cards as a prize for participating.
This year’s special Silver Anniversary LOUIE Awards competition saw a record-breaking 220 companies worldwide submit a combined total of more than 1,000 entries, all of which were marketed and sold in the United States during the 2012 calendar year.
