The London Studio breaks its record in the Henries

Art licensing and design company The London Studio has announced that both the London Studio itself and members of its Artists Collective have been shortlisted for a record-breaking 31 awards across 15 categories at the UK’s Henries Awards, the ultimate accolades in greeting card publishing – up from 23 nominations in 2024.

This marks another great year of award accolades for The London Studio and its community of artists and publisher partners which make up its Artists Collective – one that also includes recognition at both the Gift of the Year awards and the US greeting cards awards, the Louies.

These most recent award nominations for the Henries make for an impressive list that covers categories ranging from humour, children’s cards and gift wrappings to art, photography, traditional themes and more, underlining the versatility and broad-ranging skills of its Artists’ Collective members.

A notable success has been two nominations for the Best Diversity and Inclusion Range. This category is especially pertinent to The London Studio, which champions and licenses the artwork of a diverse range of independent artists from all around the world: artists of different ethnicities, LGBTQ+ artists, disabled artists, neurodivergent artists and more. And recently, founder of The London Studio, Soula Zavacopoulos, was invited to join the committee of the not-for-profit organisation Cards For All, to help support and promote diversity and inclusivity.

Soula comments: “I am honoured to be on the committee of Cards For All, where we champion authentic representation and inclusivity across the greeting card industry. It’s such an important issue and one that’s close to my heart, so I’m particularly happy that two of our Artists Collective ranges are shortlisted in this important category of the Henries Awards.”

But the Artists Collective is also celebrating success for its individual members – members like Emma Randall, a children’s book illustrator who joined The London Studio Artists Collective last year, as she wanted to create a space specially for the greetings cards and print side of her illustration practice. Now a card publisher herself, Emma’s Pear Tree Press brand secured five Henries nominations this year! And The London Studio will soon be announcing a new international licensing deal for Pear Tree Press in greeting cards, after Emma’s work attracted interest from overseas markets.

Another notable success is the bold design and dry humour of Running With Scissors, which received three Henries Award nominations across multiple categories. Steven McFee is the artist behind this contemporary brand. Soula says: “We have always had tremendous success in licensing Steven’s work, as he has an exceptional ability to ideate commercially savvy ideas for greeting card ranges and combine it with contemporary illustration, making his cards very relevant to today’s consumer and delightfully different to what’s already on the market, so I am very happy his talent is being recognised with this well-deserved triple-nomination!”

There are also two nominations for the much-loved Fox Under The Moon brand, featuring captivating artwork by Stacey McNeill which has inspired books, gifts, cards, stationery and more, including a licensing partnership with The Art File for greetings cards and calendars, as well as a newly launched book published by an imprint of Hachette which is well known for its popular wellbeing titles.

Artist Kerry Spurling’s gorgeous card designs have not only attracted a commission from independent greeting card publisher Noel Tatt, but Kerry’s work for Noel Tatt’s Children’s Ages range is another nominee in this year’s Henries, as are the sci-fi themed Rocket Science range and gorgeous Exquisite Butterflies range from the exciting colour palette of multi award-winner, Rocket68.

Of special note in an impressive nominee list is Objectables, a designer and publisher of humorous cards, which also runs a card and gift shop in Folkestone which featured in the Retas (greeting card retailing) Awards earlier this year. Objectables has been nominated in five categories, but a particular honour has been its shortlisting for the Henry Cole, an award for ranges that have stood the test of time, having been published continuously for at least eight years.

The London Studio already has a strong reputation for identifying and supporting a number of highly original artists, many of whom have been honoured in greeting card and design awards, but this is the biggest-ever showing for its Artists Collective community at the Henries.

The Henries Awards are the ultimate accolades in greeting card publishing. Named after Sir Henry Cole (who introduced the first commercially produced Christmas card in 1843), The Henries were introduced by Progressive Greetings Worldwide magazine in 1996 as annual awards to shine the spotlight on greeting card ranges. Each year some 14,000 cards are entered for the two-stage judging process – and The London Studio and its friends and collaborators have had another great year.

Soula Zavacopoulos, founder and director of The London Studio, says: “These nominations are well-deserved recognition of some truly innovative, original and creative work by some very talented artists and publishers. Congratulations to all our Artists Collective friends and, of course, good luck in October!”

The Henries awards finalists will be announced in August. The winners will be revealed on Thursday 2 October 2025, at The Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.