Entries close on 30 November ready for online judging to start in December
Roll up, roll up! There’s just about a month to go before Gift Of The Year entries close for 2024 – and you have to be in it to be the latest greetings brand to win it!
For the chance to follow in the footsteps of Cardology and Fox Under The Moon, the last two years’ People’s Choice award winners, head over to the GOTY website to enter.
Of the expanded list of 20 categories Cards, Wrap & Stationery is the obvious one for publishers, with Design & Craft; Ethical & Sustainable Gift; and Festive & Occasions also lending themselves well to greetings products.
Entries technically close on 30 November although Chris Workman, marketing and pr manager of awards organiser The Giftware Association, admitted: “We do usually extend this for a few days, but the earlier you get your products completed, the earlier we can promote them to our audiences!”
Then the first round of judging begins where the 100-plus industry judges get the chance to look at all the online entries to pick their favourites, allowing The GA to draw up the shortlist, which will be announced on 4 January, 2024.
All the shortlisted products go through to the second round with companies then asked to send in physical products for the live judging days at Spring Fair, 4-7 February, where the judges get to, see, feel, smell and taste all the entries.
The finalists will be announced on 14 February, with marketing and publicity opportunities for all prior to 16 May when the winners will be revealed at a glittering Gift Awards 2024 ceremony at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel covering GOTY and The Greats gift retailer awards, the latter owned and organised by Max Publishing – “It brings together both sides of retail in one room for an amazing night of celebration,” Chris added.
The full list of categories is: Branded Gift; Beauty, Bath & Spa; Cards, Wraps & Stationery; Children’s, Education & Pre-School; Contemporary Gift; Design & Craft; Ethical & Sustainable Gift, Fashion Accessories & Jewellery; Festive & Occasions, Food & Drink; Games & Puzzles; Health, Wellbeing & Accessible Gifts; Heritage Gifts incorporating Commemorative, Collectable & Charitable; Home, Kitchen & Garden; Home Fragrance; international; My Gift Of All Time; Novelty, Tech & Gadgets; Pet Gift; and Under £15.
There’s also the overall Judges’ Choice award, which carries a free exhibition stand at Autumn Fair 2024 for the winner plus a week’s free pop-up shop inside a John Lewis branch among the prizes.
And in the People’s Choice, for the fourth year running the public get the chance to pick their favourite from all shortlisted products – the 2023 winner was Fox Under The Moon from Stacey McNeill where the artist and author captures hearts with her books, cards and gifts designed to encourage positivity and self-love through words and pictures, and in 2022 Cardology’s Battersea Pop-Up Cards won.
At every stage of the competition entrants will receive promotional marketing material to boost their brand, as well as ways for companies to fanfare their achievements. All entrants will also be able to feature a GOTY Nominated logo.
For full terms and conditions and to enter GOTY 2024 click here – fees are payable for entries, which start at £85+vat per single entry for GA members, and £135+vat for non-members.
