Sarah Ward, chief executive of The Giftware Association

Thoughts of a chief executive

Sarah Ward

Despite the challenges faced globally, ‘ the gift industry has shown no signs of slowing down, and this year’s competition is the biggest yet!

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Call: 0121 236 2657 Email: sarah.ward@ga-uk.org Visit: www.ga-uk.org

The Giftware Association chief executive Sarah Ward talks about the shortlist for the trade body’s Gift of the Year 2023 Awards

This is the moment that the gift industry has been waiting for - the announcement of the shortlist for The Gift of the Year 2023 Awards, organised by The Giftware Association.

Despite the challenges faced globally, the gift industry has shown no signs of slowing down, and this year’s competition is the biggest yet!

With an incredible amount of innovation and creativity on display, the judges had a tough time choosing their favourites for the first round of judging, which took place throughout December.

This year’s contest was judged by more than 100 retail experts, and the consensus was that it was the hardest to judge to date, because of the amount of quality on display.

As a result, the shortlist has been expanded due to demand from our panel, and to reflect the scale of some of the most popular categories, such as Ethical and Sustainable Gift.

We are hugely grateful for the time and expertise given by our judges, who worked though the Christmas break to select the shortlist in each category.

This year’s event has been fantastic for us, as we have grown the competition, attracted brand new companies to the awards, and refined our categories.

Some of the products that have been entered are very exciting and we can’t wait to showcase the shortlist to you and celebrate the incredible entries.

The shortlist reflects all the hard work and innovation from our industry, despite all the challenges being faced with staffing, logistics, rising costs and so on.

Our Gift of the Year blog (www.giftoftheyear.co.uk/blog) shares some of the stories from our entrants this year, as well as some of the success stories from past years’ competitions.

Congratulations to our shortlisted companies and a huge thank you to everyone who entered our competition this year. The next round of judging will be the live round, which will be held for the duration of Spring Fair, where the products will be on display at the NEC in Birmingham.

You can view the complete shortlist on the Gift of the Year website at www.giftoftheyear.co.uk/2023-entries. In the meantime, here are the shortlisted entries for the My Gift of All Time category to whet your appetite:

• A Very Oddsock Christmas festive kids’ advent calendar (Sock

Academy) • BBQ Hot Smoking Kit (Hot

Smoked) • Born in the … gift books (FROM

YOU TO ME) • CAHM Luxury Fragrance Range (The Cahm Collective) • Dimple Double Old Fashioned handcrafted crystal glassware (Dartington Crystal) • DIY Terrarium Kit 3L (Fallen

Fruits) • Hello Time Daily Undated Planner & Notebook Inkwell Vertical (Hello

Time) • Large Classic Cuddly Paddington

Bear (Rainbow Designs) • Marmite Marmife Spreader (Kimm & Miller UK) • Pip and Henry Booties Gift Set (Pip and Henry) • Recognised Statement Popons pendants (Recognised) • Refillable Candle (The One Co

Cheshire) • Refillables (The Candle Brand) • RHS Gifts for Gardeners (Burgon & Ball) • The Articulate Gallery range of slot-sided picture frames (Articulate Scotland) • The Bottled Baking Co. Baking Mixes in a Bottle (The Bottled Baking Co.) • The Deceit at-home escape room in an envelope (Puzzle Post) • Warmies Premium Hot-Pak (Warmies) • William Morris At Home Canine Companion Dog Walker’s Kit (Heathcote & Ivory)